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THE SERI INDIANS

^^^ J McG^EE

11 ETH 1

CONTENTS

Page

Introduction 9

Salient features 9

Recent explorations and surveys 12

Acknowledgments - 20

Habitat 22

Iiooation and area 22

Physical characteristics 22

Flora ■ 31

Fauna 36

Local features 39

Summary history 51

Tribal features 123

Definition and nomenclature 123

External relations 130

Population 134

Somatic characters 136

Demotic characters 164

Symbolism and decoration , - 164

Face-painting 164

Decoration in general , 169

The significance of decoration 176

Industries and industrial products 180

Food and food-getting 180

Navigation 215

Habitations 221

Appareling " 224

Tools and their uses 232

Warfare ' 254

Nascent industrial development 265

Social organization 269

Clans and totems 269

Chiefship 275

Adoption : 277

Marriage .*. 279

Mortuary customs 287

Serial place of Seri socialry 293'

Language 296

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

Plate 1. Seriland : 9

II. Pascual Enoinas, conqueror of the Seri 13

Ilia. Seri frontier 40

Illft. Sierra Seri, from Encinas desert 40

I Vo. Sierri Seri, from Tiburon island 42

IV6. Punta Ygnacio, Tiburon bay 42

Va. Western sliore of Tiburon bay 44

VS. Eastern shore of Tiburon bay 44

Via. Keoeutly occupied rancheria, Tiburon island 80

VI6. Typical house interior, Tiburon island 80

Vila. House framework, Tiburon island 110

VII6. House covering, Tiburon island 110

VIII. Sponge used for house covering, Tiburon island 112

IXa. House skeleton, Tiburon island 114

1X6. Interior house structure, Tiburon island 114

X. Typical Seri house on the frontier 117

XI. Occupied rancheria on the frontier 119

XII. Group of Seri Indians on trading excursion 121

XIII. Group of Seri Indians on the frontier 137

XIV. Seri family group 139

XV. Seri mother and child 142

XVI. Group of Seri boya 144

XVII. Mash^m, Seri interpreter 146

XVIII. " Juana Maria", Seri elderwoman 150

XIX. Typical Seri warrior .- 154

XX. Typical Seri matron 156

XXI. Seri runner .: 158

XXII. Seri matron 160

XXIII. Youthful Seri warrior 162

XXIV. Seri belle 164

XXV. Seri maiden 166

XXVI. Characteristic face-painting 168

XXVII. Face-painting paraphernalia 170

XXVIII. Seri archer at rest. 200

XXIX. Seri archer at attention 202

XXX. Seri bow, arrow, and quiver 204

XXXI. Seri balsa in the National Museum 217

XXXII. Painted oUa, with olla ring (Museum number 155373) 222

XXXIII. Plain oUa (Museum number 155373) 226

XXXIV. Domestic anvil, side (Museum number 178858) 234

XXXV.' Domestic anvil, top (Museum number (178858).. 234

XXXVI. Domestic anvil, bottom (Museum number 178858) 234

XXXVII. Domestic anvil (reduced), top and side (Museum number 178838) . 237

XXXVIII. Metate (reduced), top and edge (Museum number 178839) 237

XXXIX. Long-used metate (reduced), top (Museum number 178840) 238

b ILLUSTRATIONS . [eth.ann.17

Page

Plate XL. Long-used metate (reduced), bottom (Museum number 178840)... 238
XLI. Natural pebble bearing slight marks of use (Museum number

178841) 240

XLII. Natural pebble used as bone-crusher (Museum number 178842) 240

XLIII. Little-worn pebble used for all domestic purposes (Museum num-
ber 174570) 243

XLIV. Natural pebble used as crusher and grinder (Museum number

178843) '. 243

XLV. Natural pebble slightly used as hammer and anvil (Museum num-
ber 178844) 244

XLVI. Natural pebble slightly used as grinder (Museum number 178845). 247
XLVII. Natural pebble slightly used as domestic implement (Museum

number 178846) 247

XLVIII. Natural pebble slightly -worn by use (Museum number 178847 249

XLIX. Natural pebble considerably worn in use as grinder (Museum num-
ber 178848) 249

L. Natural pebble considerably worn as cutter and grinder (Museum

number 178849) ; 251

LI. Natural pebble considerably used as hammer, grinder, and anvil

(top and edge) (Museum number 178850) 253

LIl. Natural pebble considerably used as hammer, grinder, and anvil

(bottom and edge) (^Museum number 178850) . . . .' 253

LIII. Hammer and grinder (Museum number 178851 ) 255

LIV. Implement shaped by use (Museum number 178852) 255

LV. Implement perfected by use (Museum number 178853) 257

LVI. Perfected implement found in use (Museum number 178854) 259

Figure 1. Nomenclatural map of Seriland 16

2. Gateway to Seriland — gorge of Eio Bacuache 27

3. Tinaja Anita 29

4. Beyond Encinas desert — the saguesa 33

5. Embarking on Bahia Kunkaak in la lancha Anita 48

6. Anterior and left lateral aspect of Seri cranium 142

7. Snake-skin belt 170

8. Dried flower necklace 171

9. Seed necklace , 172

10. Nut pendants 172

11. Shell beads 172

12. "Wooden beads 172

13. Necklace of wooden beads . . 173

14. Rattlesnake necklace 174

15. Seri olla ring 184

16. Water-bearer's yoke 184

17. Symbolic mortuary olla 185

18. Symbolic mortuary dish : 135

19. Shell-cup 186

20. Turtle-harpoon 187

21. Fish- spearhead 193

22. African archery posture 202

23. Desiccated pork 205

24. Seri basket 208

25. Scatophagio supplies 213

26. Seri marlinspikes 217

27. The balsa afloat , 218

28. Seri balsa as seen by Narragansett party 219

MCGEE] ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure29. Seri hairbrush 226

30. Seri cradle 226

31. Hair spindle ....: 227

32. Human-hair cord 228

33. Horsehair cord 228

34. Mesquite-fiber rope 229

35. Bone awl 230

36. Wooden awls 230

37. Seri arrowheads 249

38. Diagrammatic outline of industrial development 233

39. Mortuary olla 289

40. Woman's fetishes 290

41. Food for the long journey 291

42. Mortuary cup 291

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THE SERI IN^DI^IS^S

By W J McGee

INTRODUCTION"

Salient -PBATtrRES

Something has been known of the Seri Indians (Seris, Ceris, Ceres,
Heris, Tiburones) since the time of Ooronado, yet they remain one of the
least-studied tribes of North America. The first systematic investiga-
tion of the, tribe was made in the course of expeditions by the Bureau
of American Ethnology in 1894 and 1895 ; it was far from complete.

The Seri Indians are a distinctive tribe in habits, customs, and lan-
guage, inhabiting Tiburon island in Gulf of California and a lim-
ited adjacent area on the mainland of Sonora (Mexico). They call
themselves Kun-haah or Kmilce: their common appellation is from
the Opata, and may be translated "spry". Their habitat is arid and
rugged, consisting chiefly of desert sands and naked mountain rocks,
with permanent fresh water in only two or three places ; it is barred from
settled Sonora by a nearly impassable desert. Two centuries ago the
population of the tribe was estimated at several thousands, but it
has been gradually reduced by almost constant warfare to barely three
hundred and fifty, of whom not more than seventy-five are adult males,
or warriors.

The Seri men and women are of splendid physique; they have fine
chests, with slender but sinewy limbs, though the hands and especially
the feet are large; their heads, while small in relation to stature,
approach the average in size; the hair is luxuriant and coarse, ranging
from typical black to tawny in color, and is worn long. They are nota-
bly vigorous in movement, erect in carriage, and remarkable for fleet-
ness and endurance.

The Seri subsist chiefly on turtles, fish, moUusks, water-fowl, and
other food of the sea; they also take land game, and consume cactus
fruits, mesquite beans, and a few other vegetal products of their
sterile domain. Most of their food is eaten raw. They neither plant
nor cultivate, and are without domestic animals, save dogs which
are largely of coyote blood.

The habitations of the Seri are flimsy bowers of cactus and shrubbery,
sometimes shingled rudely with turtle-shells and sponges; in some

10 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.an-n.17

cases these are in clusters pertaining to matronymic family groups; in
other cases they are isolated, and are then often abandoned and reoc-
cupied repeatedly, and are apparently common property of the tribe.
The habitations afford some protection from sun and wind, but not
from cold and wet, which are hardly known in winterless and nearly
rainless Seriland.

The Seri clothing consists essentially of a kilt or skirt extending
from waist to knees ; sometimes a pelican-skin robe is worn as a
blanket or mantle, and used also as bedding; the head -and feet, as
well as the bust and arms, are habitually bare, though a loose-sleeved
wammus reaching not quite to the waist is sometimes worn. These gar-
ments were formerly woven of coarse threads or cords made from native
vegetal fibers ; the belt is generally of twisted human hair, of horse hair,
of dressed deerskin, or of snake skin; the robe consists of four, six, or
eight pelican skins sewed together with sinew. The pelican-skin robes
are still used, though the aboriginal fabric is commonly replaced by
cotton stuffs obtained through barter or plunder. Oords of human
hair and skins of serpents are used for necklaces.

The sports and games of the Seri Indians include racing and dancing,
and there are ceremonial dances at the girls' puberty feasts, accom-
panying the rude music of improvised drums. Decoration is ordinarily
limited to symbolic face-painting, which is seen especially among the
females, and to crude ornamentation of the scanty apparel. A peculiar
pottery is manufactured, and the pieces are sometimes decorated with
simple designs in plain colors.

The bow and arrow are habitually used, especially in warfare, and
turtles and fish are taken by means of harpoons, shafted with cane and
usually tipped with bone, charred wood, or flotsam metal. The arrows
are sometimes provided with chipped stone points, though the art of
chipping seems to be accultural and shamanistic. The ordinary stone
implements are used for crushing bone and severing sinew or flesh, and
also for mulling seeds and other food substances ; they are mere cob-
bles, selected for fitness, and retained only if their fitness is increased
by the wear of use, after the manner of protolithio culture. Graceful
balsas are made from canes, bound together with mesquite-fiber cords;
and on these the people freely navigate the narrow but stormy strait
separating Tiburon and the neighboring islets from the mainland.
They make a distinctive pottery, which is remarkably light and fragile.
Its chief use is carrying water to habitations (always located miles from
the spring or tinaja) or on desultory wanderings. Shells are used for
cups, and to some extent for implements. They have a few baskets,
which are not greatly different from those made by neighboring tribes.

The modern Seri are loosely organized in a number of maternal
groups or clans, which are notable for the prominence given to mother-
right in marriage and for some other customs ; and there are indications
that the clan organization was more definite before the tribe was so

MOGBE] GENERAL CHARACTERS 11

greatly reduced. The leading clans are those of the Pelican, the chief
tribal tutelary, and the Turtle, a minor tutelary. At present polygyny
prevails, professedly and evidently because of the preponderance of
females due to the decimation of warriors in battle j but both custom
and tradition tell of former monogamy, with a suggestion of polyandry.
The primary marriage is negotiated between the mothers of the would-
be groom and the prospective bride; if the mother and daughter in the
latter family look with favor on the proposal, the candidate is subjected
to rigorous tests of material and moral character; and if these are suc-
cessfully passed the marriage is considered complete, and the husband
becomes a privileged and permanent guest in the wife's household.
Family feeling, especially maternal affection, is strong; but petty dis-
sensions are common save when internal peace is constrained by
•external strife. The strongest tribal characteristic is implacable
animosity toward aliens, whether Indian or Caucasian; certainly for
three and a half centuries, and probably for many more, the Seri have
been almost constantly on the warpath against one alien group or
another, and have successfully stayed Spanish, Mexican, and American
invasion. In their estimation the brightest virtue is the shedding of
alien blood, while the blackest crime in their calendar is alien conjugal
union.

The Seri vocabulary is meager and essentially local; the kinship
terms are strikingly scanty, and there are fairly full designations for
food materials and other local things, while abstract terms are few.
Two or three recorded vocables seem to resemble those of the Yuman
languages, while the numerals and all other known terms are distinct.
The grammatic construction of Seri speech appears not to differ greatly
from that of other tongues of Sonora and Arizona; it is highly complex
an4 associative. The speech is fairly euphonious, much more so than
that of the neighboring Papago and yaqui Indians.

The Seri Indians appear to recognize a wide variety of mystical
potencies and a number of zoic deities, all of rather limited powers.
The Pelican, Turtle, Moon, and Sun seem to lead their thearchy. Crea-
tion is ascribed to the Anciect of Pelicans — a mythical bird of marvel-
ous wisdom and melodious song — who first raised Isla Tassne, and
afterward Tiburon and the rest of the world, above the primeval
waters. Individual fetishes are used, and there is some annual cere-
mony at the time of ripening of cactus fruits, and certain observances at
the time of the new moon. The most conspicuous ceremony is the girls'
puberty feast. The dead are clothed in their finest raiment, folded
and fastened in small compass like Peruvian mummies, placed in shal-
low graves, and covered with turtle-shells, when the graves are filled
with earth and heaped with stones or thorny brambles for protection
against beasts of prey. Fetishes, weapons, and other personal belong-
ings are buried with the body, as well as a dish of food and an oUa
of water, and there are curious customs connected with the place of

12 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.axn.17

sepulture. There is a weird, formal mourning for dead matrons, and
suggestions of fear of or veneration for the manes.

Seriland is surrounded with prehistoric works, telling of a numerous
population who successfully controlled the scant waters for irrigation,
built villages and temples and fortresses, cultivated crops, kept domes-
tic animals, and manufactured superior fictile and textile wares; but
(save possibly in one spot) these records of aboriginal culture cease at
the borders of Seriland. In their stead a few slightly worn pebbles
and bits of pottery are found here and there, deeply embedded in the
soil and weathered as by the suns of ages. There are also a few cairns
of cobbles marking the burial places, and at least one cobble mound
of striking dimensions but of unknown meaning; and there are a few
shell-mounds, one so broad and high as to form a cape in the slowly
transgressing shoreline (Punta Antigualla), and in which the protolithic
implements and other relics are alike from the house-dotted surface to
the tide level, 90 feet below.

The absence of relics of a superior culture, and the presence of Seri
relics throughout deposits of high antiquity, suggest that the tribe is
indigenous to Seriland; and this indication harmonizes with the pecul-
iar isolation of the territory, the lowly culture and warlike habits of the
people, the essentially distinct language, the singular marriage custom,
and the local character of the beast-gods. And all these features com-
bine to mark the Seri as children of the soil, or autochthones.

Recent Explorations and Surveys

Present knowledge of Seriland and its inhabitants is based primarily
on the work of two expeditions by the Bureau of American Ethnology,
conducted in 1894 and 1895, respectively ; and, secondarily, on researches
into the cartography and literature (descriptive, historical, and scien-
tific) of the region. Both of the expeditions were projected largely for
the purpose of making collections among little-known native tribes
in the interests of the National Museum, and the general ethnologic
inquiries were ancillary to this purpose.^ .

The 1894 expedition was directed chiefly toward work among the
Papago Indians in the vaguely defined territory known as Papagueria,
lying south of Gila river and west of the Sierra Madre in southwest-
ern Arizona and western Sonora (Mexico). Outfitting at Tucson early
in October, the party moved southward, visiting the known Papago
rancherias and seeking others, and thus defining the eastern limits
of the Papago country. On the approach to the southern limits of the
tribal range toward Eio Sonora, the evil repute of the Seri Indians
sounded larger and larger, suggesting the desirability of scientific
study of the tribe; and it was decided to attempt investigation.
Accordingly the party was reorganized at Hermosillo, and, with the
sanction of tlie Secretary of State and Acting Governor, SeJior Don
Ramon Corral, proceeded to Rancho San Francisco de Oosta Rica,

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MCOEE] EXPEDITIONS OF 1894 AND 1895 13

where a temporary Seri rancheria was found occupied by about sixty
of the tribe, iucluding subchief Mash^m, who speaks Spanish. In this
part of the work the expedition was accompanied by Serior Pascual
Encinas, the owner of the rancho visited, and doubtless the best
informed white man concerning the habits, customs, personnel, and
habitat of the tribe. About a week was spent in intercourse witli the
occupants of the rancheria, when the studies were brought to an end
through the illness of Seiaor Encinas, and the consequent necessity for
return to Hermosillo. The expedition then proceeded northwestward
and northward along a route so laid as to define the western limits of
Papagueria proper, and reached Tucson near the end of the year. In
addition to the leader, the party comprised Mr William Dinwiddie,
photographer; Jos6 Lewis, Papago interpreter, and B. P. Cunningham,
teamster. The outfit was furnished chiefly by Mr J. M. Berger, of San
Xavier (near Tucson). On the visit to the Seri frontier the party was
accompanied by Senor Encinas, Don Arturo Alvemar-Leon (who acted
as Spanish interpreter) , and two or three attaches of Molino del Encinas.'

The second expedition was directed primarily toward investigation
of the Seri, and only incidentally to continuation of the researches
among the Papago. Outfitting at Tucson in October (again with the
aid of Mr Berger), the expedition proceeded southward by a route
diii'erent from those previously traversed, and carried forward a plane-
table route survey covering a considerable zone from the international
boundary at Sasabe to Eio Sonora. Descending the previously
unmapped course of Rio Bacuache, the expedition reached the Rancho de
San Francisco de Oosta Rica on December 1, 1895, and, although condi-
tions were found unfavorable in that the Seri were on the warpath,
immediately prepared for the extension of the work into Seriland.

A preliminary trip was made into the mainland portion of the Seri
habitat, terminating at the crest of Johnson peak, the highest point in
Sierra Seri. The triangulatiou and topographic surveys were carried
over the territory traversed, and several points were fixed on Isla
Tiburon; but the natives, agitated by a skirmish with vaqueros on
the frontier a day or two earlier, had withdrawn to remoter parts of the
territory, and were not encountered. The party returned to Oosta Rica,
a rude boat was completed, transported across the desert via Pozo
Escalante to Embarcadero Andrade, and launched in Bahia Kunkaak.
The surveys were extended to the southern portion of Sierra Seri and
Isla Tassne, and, after various difidculties and delays due to dearth of
fresh water, to gales, and to other causes, the party (enlarged for the pur-
pose) finally landed on Tiburon. Many Seri rancherias were found on

* The more noteworthy details of the organization and work of the two expeditions are set forth in
the adminislxative reports of the Bureau for the fiscal years 1894-95 and 1895-96. Gertaiii members of
this party are shown in the accompanying half-tone, forming plate II : Senor Encinas seated at the end
of the table; his son, Don Manuel (bareheaded), and Don Ygnacio Lozania at his right; a grandson
behind him, and Sefior Alvemar-Leon seated at his left, with Mash6m kneeling over the table in the
foreground.

14 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.I?

both sides of Bahia Kunkaak and El Inflernillo. Some of these had
been occupied almost to the hour of the visit, but the occupants
had taken flight, leaving most of their unattached possessions behind,
and were not seen, though it was evident that, like wary birds and
game animals, they kept the invaders in sight from points of vantage
and hidden lairs. The eastern scarps and foot-slopes of Sierra Kunkaak
were traversed extensively and repeatedly; its crest was crossed by
Mr Johnson with a small party at a point west of Punta Narragansett,
and the triangulation and topographic sketching were connected with
the work on the mainland and carried over practically the entire sur-
face of the island, being tied to the work of the Hydrographic Office
about the coasts. Then, despairing of finding the wary natives, and
having exhausted food supplies, the party returned to the mainland
and thence to Oosta Eica, arriving in the evening of December" 31,

The original party comprised, in addition to the leader, Mr Willard
D. Johnson, topographer; Mr J. W. Mitchell, photographer; Hugh
Norris, Papago interpreter, and Jos6 Gontrares, teamster. The party
engaged in the expedition to Sierra Seri comprised the leader, Messrs
Johnson and Mitchell, Mr L. K. Thompson of Hermosillo, Don Andres
Noriega of Oosta Eica, Jos6 Gontrares, and two Papago Indian guards,
Miguel and Anton, of Gosta Eica. The Tiburon party was made up of
the leader, Messrs Johnson and Mitchell, S. 0. Millard of Los Angeles,
and Senores Andres Noriega and Ygnacio Lozania, together with
Euperto Alvarez, a Yaqui Indian guard, and Miguel, Anton, Mariana,
Anton Ortiz, and Anton Castillo, Papago guards; while Hugh Norris
and Josd Gontrares, with half a dozen Papago guards and other
attaches of the rancho at Oosta Eica, maintained an intermittent sup-
ply station at Bmbarcadero Andrade. Senor Bncinas cooperated in
the work of the expedition, part of the time at Gosta Eica and part at
Molino del Bncinas, his principal hacienda in the outskirts of Hermo-
sillo; while Mr Thompson and Dr W. J. Lyons aided in the work, the
former at both Hermosillo and Costa Eica and the latter at Hermosillo.

The return trip from Oosta Eica lay via Hermosillo, and permitted
the extension of the plane-table surveys to this longitude. While at
the city advantage was taken of the opportunity to obtain linguistic
and other data from "El General" Kolusio, a full-blood Seri retained
at the capital by the State for occasional duty as a Seri interpreter,
who was obligingly assigned to the service of the party by Senor
Don Eamdn Corral, then governor of Sonora. At Hermosillo the
leader of the expedition left the main party, which then proceeded
northwestward and northward along the route followed by the 1894
expedition on the return journey, the party comprising Mr Johnson, in
charge, with Messrs Mitchell and Millard, Hugh Norris, and Jos6 Gon-
trares; and the plane-table surveys were continued and combined with
the route surveys made on the outward journey.

MOGEE] THE GEOGKAPHIC NOMENCLATUEE 15

The principal ethnologic results of both expeditions relating to the
Seri Indians are incorporated in the following pages ; the data concern-
ing the- Papago are reserved for farther study. The topographic sur-
veys of the 1895 expedition covered a zone averaging 50 miles in width,
extending from the international boundary to somewhat beyond Eio
Sonora. Mr Johnson, by whom these surveys were executed, was on
furlough from the United States Geological Survey, and his resumption
of survey work prevented the construction of finished maps, except that
of Seriland (plate i), which forms but a small fraction of the area sur-
veyed. The results of the remaining, and by far the greater, part of
the topographic surveys are withheld pending completion of the inqui-
ries concerning the Papago Indians.

The geographic nomenclature found requisite in the field and in
writing is partly new and partly restored, yet conforms with general
and local custom so far as practicable; and nearly all of the new names
have been applied in commemoration of explorers or pioheers. Most
of the names pertaining to Seriland proper are incorporated in the map
forming plate i; the others (including a few minor corrections) appear
in the outline map forming figure 1, prepared after the larger sheet
was printed.'

The following list of place-names is designed primarily to give the
meaning and raison d'etre of the nomenclature; with a single excep-
tion,^ the names are Hispanized or Mexicanized in accordance with local
usage.

Nomenclature of Seriland.'

* Seriland : Extra-vernacular name of tribe, with English locative.

Mae db CortjSs (Sea of CortiSs^Gulf of California) : Customary Sonoran designa-
tion, applied by UUoa (1539) in honor of Hernando Cortes, first discoverer of
the gulf.

*Pasajb Ux-loa (Ulloa passage): Generic Spanish; specific applied in honor of
Captain Francisco de Ulloa, first navigator of the passage and the tipper gulf,
1539.

* ESTKBCHO Alarcon ( Alarcon strait) : Named in honor of Hernando de Alarcon,

second navigator of the gulf, 1540.
El Inpiernillo (The Little Hell) : Local designation, retained by the Hydrographic

Office, U. S. N. (miswritten "Estrecho Infiernillo" on larger map).
tBocA Infikrno (Mouth of Hell): A colloquial local designation (miswritten

"Puerto Infierno" on larger map).

* Bahia K0NKAAK (Kunkaak bay) : Generic Spanish ; specific the vernacular name

of the Seri tribe (miswritten "Tiburon bay" on plates iv and v).

•The larger map was drawn early in 189S, and a preliminary edition In the form of a photolitliDgrapli
of the drawing was published in the National Geographic Magazine, vol. vn, 1896. It is proper— and
historically desirable — to explain that while a considerable part of the copy for this paper was pre-
pared at about the same time, circumstances prevented the completion of the manuscript and the final
rectification of the nomenclature and bibliographic references until September 1, 1900.

Vohnson peak. It is proper to say that this name was applied by the author (and leader of the
expedition) after the drawing was completed and submitted by Mr Johnson, aa a meager tribute to
his excellent work in the field and on the drawings named.

3 An asterisk indicates new names, an obelisk old names restored or colloquial names adopted.

THE SEKI INDIANS

[BTH. ANN. 17

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Mc™E] PLACE-NAMES OF SERILAND 17

Bahia Kino (Kino bay) : Long-standing name given in honor of Padre Eusebio
Francisco Kino, an early Jesuit missionary (the "Bahia San Juan Bautista" of
various early maps; ; adopted in Anglicized form by the Hvdrographic Office,
U. S. N. - '

t Bahia Tepopa (Tepopa bay) : Specific a corruption of Tepoka, the extra-vernacu-
lar name of a local tribe related to the Seri ; applied in 1746 by Padre Consag,
and used by most navigators and cartographers of later dates, though it does
not appear on the charts of the Hydrographio Office, U. S. N.

Bahia Agua Dulce (Freshwater bay; : Named by Lieutenant R. W. H. Hardy,
E. N., 1826 ; name retained (in Anglicized form) by Hydrographio Office, U. S. N.
(The name is misplaced on Hardy's map, but the bay is correctly located in his
text, p. 293.)

t Bahia Bruja (Witch bay) : Named (in honor of his vessel) by its discoverer. Lieu-
tenant Hardy, 1826.

* Bahia Espence (Spence bay) : Named in honor of Pilot TomSs Espence (Thomas

Spence), second circumnavigator of the island, who landed in the bay in 1844.
t EsTBRO CocHLA (Cookle inlet) : Named by Lieutenant Hardy, 1826.

* Bajios de Ugartk (Ugarte shoals) : Named in honor of Padre Juan de Ugarte,

first visitor to the shoals and circumnavigator of Tiburon, 1721.

* Rada Ballena (Whale roadstead) : Named from the stranding of a whale about

1887, an incident of much note among the Seri.

* Anclaje Dewey (Dewey anchorage) : Named in honor of its discoverer, Com-

mander (now Admiral) George Dewey, in charge of the surveys by the Hydro-
graphic Office, U. S. N., 1873.

Laguna I.A Cruz (Lagoon of the Cross) : Name adopted (Anglicized) by Hydro-
graphic Office, U. S. N. ; the "Laguna de los Cercaditos" (Lagoon of the Little
Banks) of Colonel Francisco Andrade, 1844.

ISLA TiBUKON (Shark island): Name of long standing; used alternatively with
"Isla San Agustin" since the seventeenth century, both names being appar-
ently applied to Isla Tassne by several writers, and also to Isla Angel de la Guarda
(the second largest island in the gulf) by Kino and others, while the present
Tiburon was regarded as a peninsula.

Isla San Esteban (Saint Stephen island): Name of long standing; in consistent
use since early in the seventeenth century.

*ISLA Tassne (Pelican island): Name recast by the use of the Seri specific in lieu
of the Spanish (Alcatr^z), which is too hackneyed for distinctive use.

Isla Turner (Turner island) : Name used (and probably applied in honor of Eear-
Admiral Thomas Turner, U. S. N.) by the Hydrographio Office, U. S. N.

Isla Paios (Duck island — i. e.. Island of Ducks) : Name of long standing; adopted
by the Hydrographio OflSce, U. S. N.

RocA FocA (Seal rock) : Name used (and probably applied) by the Hydrographio
Office, U. S. N.

Pena Blanca (White crag) : Name used (and probably applied) by the Hydro-
graphic Office, U. S. N.

Pdnta Tepopa (Tepopa point): Named (probably corruptly) from a local tribe
related to the Seri ; used by the Hydrographio Office, U. S. N.

Punta Sargent (Sargent point) : Name applied by Lieutenant Hardy in 1826 to
what is now known as Punta Tepopa; adopted for the minor point by the
Hydrographio Office, U. S. N.

* Punta Pbrla (Pearl point) : Name applied in commemoration of the traditional

pearl fisheries of the vicinity.

* Punta Arena (Sand point) : A descriptive designation.

" Punta Tortuga (Turtle point) : Name applied in recognition of the extensive
turtle fisheries of the Seri in the vicinity.
17 BTH 2

18 THE SERI INDIANS [bth.ann.17

* PCNTA TORMENTA (Hurricane point) : Name applied in recognition of the nearly

continuous gales and tide-rips by which navigation is rendered hazardous, and
by which the long sand-spit has been built.
PuNTA Miguel (Miguel point): Eecast from "San Miguel point", partly through
association with the name of a Papago guard accompanying the expedition of
1895; in the old form the name is of long standing, was probably applied by
Escalante in 1700, and was adopted by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N., 1873.

* PUNTA Granita (Granite point) : A descriptive designation.
*PuNTA Blanoa (White point) : A descriptive designation.

*PuNTA Naeragansett (Narragausett point) : Specific ^of Algonquian Indian deri-
vation) applied in commemoration of the vessel employed in the surveys by the
Hydrographic Office, U. S. N., in 1873, the point being that at which the commander
of the Narraganaett located the principal Seri rancheria of that time and made
observations on the tribe.

* PUUTA YONACio (Ygnacio point) : Specific applied in honor of Don Ygnacio Lozania,

a trusted aid in the 1895 expedition, who hadvisited this point in connection with
the Andrade expedition of 1844 ; described as " Dark bluff" on charts of the Hydro-
graphic Office, U. S.N. *

* PuNTA Antigualla (Antiquity point — i. e.. Point of Antiquities) : Name applied in

recognition of a great shell-monnd which has retarded the transgression of the
sea and produced the, point.

PuNTA Kino (Kino point) : Name of long standing; specific in honor of the early
missionary; used by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.

*PnNTA Mashem (Mash^m point) : Specific in honor of the Seri chief Mashf^m (some-
times called Francisco Estorga or Juan Estorga), who speaks Spanish and acted
as Seri-Spanish interpreter in 1894.

PuNTA MoNUMBNTA (Monument point) : Named by the Hydrographic Office, U. S. N.

PuNTA CoLORADA (Eed point) : Eecast from the "Eed Bluff point" of the Hydro-
graphic Office, U. S. N.

Pdnta Willard (Willard point): Origin of name unknown; used by the Hydro-
graphic Office, U. S. N.

*Embarcadbro Andrade (Andrade landing): Named in memory of the embarca-
tion for Tiburon of Colonel Francisco Andrade, 1844.

*Campo Navidad (Christmas camp) : Named in memory of a camp occupied Decem-
ber 24-26 by the expedition of 1895.

* Sierra Seri (Seri range): Generic Spanish, specific the extra-vernacular tribe

name.
*SlERRA KuNKAAK (Kuukaak range) : Specific the vernacular tribe name.
"Sierra Menor (Minor range) : A descriptive designation.

* Cbrros Anacoretos (Anbhorite hills): A designation suggested to Topographer

Johnson by the solitary series of spurs rising singly or in scattered groups from
the sheetflood-carved desert plain.

'Johnson peak: Name applied in commemoration of the first and only ascent of
the peak, and of its occupation as a survey station, December 7 and 8, 1895, by
Willard D. Johnson, accompanied by .John Walter Mitchell and Miguel (Papago
Indian).

*Desibrto Encinas (Encinas desert): Generic Spanish, specific in honor of the
intrepid settler on the outskirts of the desert, Sefior Pascual Encinas.

*Pl,AYA Noriega (Noriega playa) : Generic Spa,nish, specific in honor of Don AndriSs
Noriega, kinsman of SeSora Anita Encinas, a resident on the outskirts of the
desert, and the leading Mexican aid in the expedition of 1895.

*Aeenales de Gil (Gil sandbanks) : Generic Spanish, specific in honor of Fray Juan
Cris6Btomo Gil de Bernabe, sole missionary to Seriland, massacred at this point
in 1773.

"Eio Sonora (Sonora river) : Generic Spanish, specific a long standing anil origi-
nally colloquial corruption of Senora, a desiguatiou said to haVe been applied

MCQEB] PLACE-NAMES OF SERILAND 19

by Spanish pioneeis to a hospitable native chieftaiuess ; afterwards apparently
fixed through the name of an early mining camp and garrison and perhaps by
similarity to a local aboriginal (Opata) term connoting maize, i. e., aonot.

Eio Bacuachb (Bacuache river): Name of long standing; specific doubtless from
the Opata term baeot, "snake", with a locative termination, i. c, "Snake
place". I

tAKROYO Carrizal (Reedy arroyo) : Generic and specific Spanish; colloquial desig-
nation used by the Seri chief Mash^m in describing the island; a traditiofial
name of long standing,

t Arroyo Agua Dulck (Freshwater arroyo) : A traditional name like the former,
also used by Mash^m.

*Arroyo Millard (Millard arroyo) : Named in memory of S. C. Millard, aid and
interpreter in the expedition of 1895 (died 1897).

*Arroyo Mariana (Mariana arroyo) : Named in honor of Mariana (Papago Indian),
a guard accompanying the 1895 expedition, who had once approached this arroyo
on a hunting expedition.

'Arroyo Mitchbll (Mitchell arroyo) : Named in honor of John Walter Mitchell,
photographer of the 1895 expedition.

tPozo EsCALANTE (Escalante well): Generic Spanish, specific in honor of Sergeant
Juan Bautista de Escalante, the first Caucasian to cross El Infiernillo (in 1700),
who is reputed to have dug the shallow well still existing; the name has
been retained ever since alternatively with "Agua Amarilla" (Yellow water);
doubtless the "Carrizal" of certain early maps; the site of the only mission ever
established in Seriland, and of the massacre of Fray Cris^stomo Gil iu 1773.

* Pozo Hardy (Hardy well) : Named in honor of Lieutenant E. W. H. Hardy, R, N.,

second known Caucasian visitor to the spot, 1826.
*Aguaje Anton (Anton water, or water-hole) : Generic a common Mexican term;

specific applied in memory of Anton (Papago Indian), a guard and visitor to the

spot in the expedition of 1895.
"Aguajk Pahilla (Parilla water) : A traditional water (not found by the expedition

of 1895) named in memory of Colonel Diego Ortiz Parilla, the vaunted destroyer

of the Seri in 1749, whose imposing expedition may have reached this point.

* Barranca Salina (Saline gorge): Generic colloquial Mexican, specific denoting

the character of the practically permanent water; the designation applied by
Mexican vaqueros and Papago hunters, who occasionally visit the locality.

*TlNAJA Anita (Anita basin): Generic a useful Mexican term for a water-pocket,
or rock basin containing water supplied by storms or seepage ; specific a tribute
to Anita Newcomb McGee, M. D., Aotg. Asst. Surg. U. S. A.; perhaps the
"AguajedeAndrade" of 1844.

•TiNAJA Trinchbra (Entrenched basin): Specific a common Mexican term for the
ancient entrenchments found on many mountains of Papagueria; applied in
recognition of a few low, loose-laid stone walls about the tinaja, the only
structures of the kind known in Seriland.

Rancho San Francisco de Costa Rica: Name applied by the founder, Sefior
Pascual Enoiuas, about 1850.

Rancho Santa Ana : Name applied by the founder, Senor Encinas, about 1870.

Rancho Libertad : Name applied by the founder, Seiior Encinas, about 1875.

The fairly full geographic nomenclature of Seriland merely expresses
the necessity for place names, felt in some measure by all intelligent
beings, and realized especially by explorers and describers of the
region. Excepting the ranches and perhaps Pozo Escalante, they denote
natural features only, and, with the same exceptions, the features are
seen but rarely or from great distances by enlightened men. Despite

20 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ahn.17

the wealth of place-Dames and the strongly accentuated configuration
which the nomenclature expresses, Seriland is one of the most hopeless
deserts of the American hemisphere.

Acknowledgments

Since most of the field work of the two expeditions lay in the neigh-
boring Eepublic of Mexico, it became necessary to ask official sanction
for the operations from the Mexican government; and it is a pleasure
to say that every possible privilege and courtesy were extended by
both federal and state ofScials. Especial acknowledgments are due to
the Mexican minister (and afterward ambassador) to the United
States, his Excellency Don Mateo Romero (now deceased); to the
Ministro de Fomento of the Mexican Eepublic, Excelencia Don Fer-
nando Leal; and to the governor of the State of Sonora, Senor Don
Ramon Corral. Equal acknowledgments are due to various United
States officials, notably Honorable W. Woodville Rockhill, First Assis-
tant Secretary of State when the expeditions were planned; and it is
a pleasure to advert to the active interest taken in both expeditions by
Honorable S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and
to the careful attention given the 1894 expedition by the late Dr G.
Brown Goode, Assistant Secretary of the Institution.

Mr Willard D. Johnson did invaluable service in connection with
the second expedition, particularly in the, execution of surveys and the
construction of maps in inimitable style. Mr Williain Dinwiddle is to
be credited with the excellent photographs made during the 1894 expe-
dition, with the representation of the devices used in Seri face-paint-
ing, and with various other aids to the investigation ; while Mr J. W.
Mitchell is to be credited with the photographs made on Isla Tiburon,
and with other contributions to the success of the 1895 expedition.
Acknowledgments are due also to all of the participants in both expe-
ditions, whose names appear in other paragraphs. Their contributions
were not primarily intellectual, yet were of a kind and amount to be
forever remembered among men who have worked and hungered and
thirsted and stood guard together. The deepest debt connected with
the field work is to the now venerable but ever vigorous pioneer,
Senor Pascual Encinas; and no small part of this debt goes over to his
estimable spouse, Seiiora Anita Encinas, who twice traversed the long
road from Hermosillo to Costa Rica in the interest of the 1895 expedition.

The scientific results of the researches have been enriched by invalu-
able contributions from Director Powell's store of ethnologic knowledge,
and by suggestions from Messrs Frank Hamilton Cushing, F. W.
Hodge, James Mooney, and other collaborators in the Bureau of
American Ethnology. The qualities of the colored illustrations are
due largely to the artistic skill of Mr Wells M. Sawyer, by whom they
were designed, and of Mr DeLancey Gill, by whom the proofs were
revised. The Spanish translations are due chiefly to Colonel F. F.

MCGEE] CONTRIBUTORS AND COLLABORATORS 21

Hilder, ethnologic translator of the Bureau, partly to Mr Emanuele
Fronani ; though neither can be charged with errors of interpretation or
of Englishing, both finally shaped by the author. The somatic determi-
nations and discussions were by Dr Ales HrdliCka, of New York ; the
tests for arrow poison were made by Dr S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadel-
phia; while the philologic comparisons were made almost wholly (with
notable thoroughness and perspicacity, and in such wise as to illus-
trate the wealth and utility of the linguistic collections of the Bureau)
by Mr J. N. B. Hewitt. Finally, it has become due, probably for the
first time in the nearly four centuries of their history, to make public
acknowledgment of services by Seri Indians, viz, subchief Mash^m,
the real sponsor for the Bureau vocabulary and many other data, and
"El General" Kolusio, the outlaw interpreter of Hermosillo and con-
tributor to certain historical identifications.

HABITAT
Location and Aeea

Seriland, the home from time immemorial of the Seri Indians, lies in
northwestern Mexico, forming a part of the State of Sonora. It com-
prises Tiburou island, the largest and most elevated insular body in
Gulf of California, together with a few islets and an adjacent tract of
mainland; the center of the district being marked approximately by
the intersection of the parallel of 29° with the meridian of 112°. The
territory is divided by the narrow but turbulent strait, El Inflernillo.
It is bounded on the west and south by the waters of the gulf with its
eastward extensions to Kino bay, on the east by a nearly impassable
desert, and on the north by a "waterless stretch of sandy plains and
rugged sierras 50 to 100 miles in extent.

Tiburon island is about 30 miles in length from north to south and
12 to 20 miles in width ; its area, with that of the adjacent islets, is
barely 500 square miles. The mainland tract held by the Seri is with-
out definite boundary; measured to the middle of the limiting desert
on the east and halfway across the waterless zone on the north, its
area may be put at 1,500 square milt^s. To this land .area of 2,000
square miles may be added the water area of the strait, with its north-
ern and southern embouchures, and the coastwise waters habitually
navigated by the Seri balsas as far as Kino bay, making half as much
more of water area. Such is the district which the Seri claim and seek
to control, and have practically protected against invasion for nearly
four centuries of history and for uncounted generations of prehistory.

Physical Characteristics

Seriland forms part of a great natural province lying west of the
Siierra Madre of western Mexico and south of an indefinite bound-
ary about the latitude of Gila river, which may be designated the
Sonoran province; it differs from Powell's province of the Basin ranges
in that it opens toward the sea, and also in other respects; audit is
allied in many of its characteristics to the arid piedmont zone lying
west of the Andes in South America.

In general configuration the province may be likened to a great roof-
slope stretching southwestward from a comb in the Sierra Madre to a
broad eaves-trough forming Gulf of California, the slope rising steeper
toward the crest and lying flatter toward the coast; but the expanse is
warped by minor swells, guttered by waterways, and dormered by out-

MCGEE] CLIMATE OF SONORAN PEOVINCE 23

lying ranges and buttes. The most conspicuous inequality of the slope
(partly because of its coincidence with tide-level) is offered by the
rugged ranges of Seriland. These may be considered four in number,
all approximately parallel with each other and with the coast; the first
is a series of eroded remnants (Oerros Anacoretos) from 600 to 1,200
feet in height ; the second is the exceedingly rugged Sierra Seri, culmi-
nating in Johnson peak 5,000 feet above tide; the third is Sierra Kun-
kaak, attaining about 4,000 feet in its highest point; the fourth is
Sierra Menor, some 2,000 feet high, with the northern extremity sliced
off obliquely by marine erosion. The principal arm of Desierto Enci-
nas lies between the first two ranges, El Inflernillo separates the second
and third, while a subdesert valley divides the third from the fourth.
The valleys correspond more closely than the ranges; if the land level
were 100 feet higher the strait and its terminal bays would become an
arid valley like the others, while if the sea-level were 500 feet higher
the four ranges would become separate islands similar to Angel de la
Guarda and others in the gulf.

The Sonoran province is notably warm and dry. The vapor-ladeu
air-currents from the Pacific drift across it and are first warmed by
conduction and radiation from the sun scorched land, to be chilled
again as they roll up the steeper roof-slope to the crest; and the precip-
itation flows part way down the slopes, both eastward and westward
from the Sierra Madre — literally the Mother (of waters) range. A
climatal characteristic of the province is two relatively humid seasons,
coinciding with the two principal inflections of the annual temperature-
curve, i. e., in January-February and July- August, respectively. In
the absence of meteorologic records the temperature and precipitation
may be inferred from the observations at Yuma and Tucson,' which are
among the warmest and driest stations in America, or indeed in the
world; though it is probable that such points as Oaborca, Bacuachito,
and Hermosillo are decidedly warmer and perhaps slightly moister
than Yuma. The ordinary midday summer temperature at these points
may be estimated at about 110° in the shade (frequently rising 5° or
10° higher, but dropping 20° to 50° in case of cloudiness); the night
temperature at the same season is usually 50° to 75°, though during
two-thirds of the year it is liable to fall to or below the freezing point.
The sun temperature is high in comparison with that measured in
the shade, the exposed thermometer frequently rising to 150° or 160°,
according to its construction, while black-finished metal becomes too
hot to be handled, and dark sand and rocks literally scorch unprotected
feet. The leading characteristic of the temperature is the wide diurnal
range and the relatively narrow annual range; another characteristic
is the uniformity, or periodic steadiness, of the maxima, coupled with
variability and nonperiodicity of the minima.

1 The following monthly and annual meteorologic aummaries, compiled from United States Weather
Bureau records at these stations, have been kindly furnished by Prof. Willis L. Moore, Superintend-

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

The precipitation on tlie Sonoran province is chiefly in the form of
rain ; in the winter humid season snow falls frequently on the Sierra
Madre and rarely on the outlying ranges; in both humid seasons (and
in humid spots at all seasons) dew forms in greater or less abundance.
Fog frequently gathers along the coast, especially during the winter and
in the midsummer wet season, and sometimes drifts inland for miles. The
mean annual precipitation may be estimated at 20 or 25 inches toward
the crest and half as much toward the base of the high sierra; thence
it diminishes coastward, probably to less than 2 inches; the mean for
the extensive plains forming the greater part of the province may be
estimated at 3 or 4 inches. The greater part of the precipitation is in

ent of the Bureau. The tabulated records represent the obserrations of twenty years atTumaand
ten years at Tucson.

Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

Apr.

May

June

July

Aug.

Sept.

Oct.

Not.

•
Dec.

Tear

Absolute maxi-

mum tempera-

ture, Fahr. :

Tuma

100

105

112

117

118

115

113

108

118

Tucson

101

106

111

110

109

106

111

Absolute mini-

mum tempera-

ture, Fahr. :

7unia ......

60
60

41
31

31
23

25
11

22
11

Tucson

Mean maximum

temperature,

Fahr. :

Tuma

65.1

70.7

78.5

85.4

93.2

101.2

106.7
99.0

104.9
94.8

99.6

87.2
82.8

75.0
71.5

67.4
63.7

86.6
81.8

Tucson

62.9

67.0

74.5

81.4

91.4

100.2

92.2

Mean minimum

temperature,

Fahr. :

Yuma

42.0

46.1

50.8

55.1

61.4

68.3

77.2

77.6

70.5

68.5

48.8

4t.7

68.4

Tucson

34.9

41.5

44.0

48.1

55.3

63.8

75.0

73.6

67.3

52.1

42.5

35.1

52.8

Mean tempera-

tiire, Fahr. :

Ynn.a ....

54.1

58.8

64.5

69.8

77.2
74.0

84.9

91.5

90.7
83.5

84.4

77.7

73.0
68.6

61.9
67.0

56.0
52.0

72.2
67.4

Tucson

49.4

53.2

69.5

65.6

82.3

87.2

Mean precipita-

tion (inches and

hundredths) :

0.35
3.08

Tuma

0.42

0.51

0.26

0.07

0.04
0.16

0.14
2.86

0.15
1.16

0.28
0.33

0.29
0.37

0.46
0.95

3.04
12.26

Tucson

0.75

0.98

0.90

0.17

0.19

Prevailing winds :

Tuma .........

ST.

SW.

sw.

S.
SE.

NE.
S.

NE.

N.
S.

N.
SE.

Tucson

Average cloudi-

ness (scale 0-10) :

Yuma ....

2.' 4

2.4

1.8

1.3

0.8

1.8

2.3

1.1

1.3

1.7

2.5

1.8

Tucson

3.0

3.2

1.8

1.6

1.5

4.5

4.4

1.9

1.6

2.9

2.6

M06EE] CLIMATE OF SERILAND 25

local storms, frequently accompanied by thunder-gusts or sudden tem-
pests, though cold drizzles somfetimes occur, especially at the height
of the winter humid season. Except where the local configuration is
such as to affect the atmospheric movements, the distribution of pre-
cipitation is erratic, in both time and space; some spots may receive
half a dozen rains within a year, while other spots may remain rainless
for several years ; and the wet spot of one series of years may be the
dry spot of the next.

The climatal features of Seriland are somewhat afected by the pro-
nounced topographic features of the district. Snow sometimes falls on
Sierra Seri, and probably on Sierra Kunkaak ; gales gather about the
rugged ranges at all seasons, and sometimes produce precipitation out
of season; the extreme heat of midday and midsummer is tempered
by the proximity of the tide-swept gulf; and since most of the local
derangements tend to augment precipitation and reduce tetnperature,
it would seem safe to estimate the mean annual rainfall of the tract at
4 or 5 inches, and the mean temperature at about 70°, with a mean
annual range of some 30° and an extreme diurnal range of fully 80°.

The configuration and climate combine to give distinctive character
to the hydrography of the Sonoran province. The melting snows and
more abundant rains of the high sierras form innumerable streams
flowing down the steeper slopes toward the piedmont plains, or soak
into the pervious rocks to reappear as springs at lower levels; some-
times the streams unite to form considerable rivers, flowing scores ot
miles beyond the mountain confines; but eventually all the running
waters are absorbed by the dry sands of the plains or evaporated into
the drier air; and from the mouth of the Colorado to that of the Yaqui,
500 miles away, no fresh water ever flows into the sea. During the
winter wet season, and to a less extent during that of summer, the
mountain waterways are occupied by rushing torrents, rivaling great
rivers in volume, and these floods flow far over the plains; but during
the normal droughts the torrents shrink to streamlets purling among
the rocks, or give place to blistering sand- wastes furlongs or even miles
in width and dozens of miles in length, while beyond stretch low,
radially scored alluvial fans, built by the great freshets of millenniums.
Only a trifling part of the rainfall of the plains ever gathers in the
waterways heading in the mountains, and only another small part
gathers in local channels; the lighter rains from higher clouds are so
far evaporated in the lower strata of the air as to reach the earth in
feeble sprinkles or not at all; the product of moderate showers is
absorbed directly by earth and air; while the water of heavy rains
accumulates in mud-burdened sheets, spreading far over the plains,
flowing sluggishly down the slopes, yet suft'eriug absorption by earth
and air too rapidly to permit concentration in channels. These moving
mud-blankets of the plains, or sheetfloods,' are often supplemented by

I Defined and described in Sheetiiood Eroaion, Bull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. vii, 1897, p. ST.

26 THE SERI INDIANS [bth.ann.17

the discharge from the waterways of adjacent sierras and buttes; they
are commonly miles and frequently dozens or scores of miles in width,
and the linear flow may range from a fraction of a mile to scores of
miles according to the heaviness of the rainfall and the consequent
dilution of the mud. Such sheetfloods, especially those produced by
considerable rains, are characteristic agents of erosion throughout most
of the province; their tendency is to aggrade depressions and corrade
laterally, and thus to produce smooth plains of gentle slope interrupted
only by exceptionally precipitous and rugged mountain remnants. A
part of the sheetflood water joins the stronger mountain-born streams,
particularly toward the end of the great storm whereby earth and air
are saturated; another part forms ground- water, which slowly finds its
way down the slopes toward the principal valleys, perhaps to reappear
as springs or to supply wells. These with certain other conditions
determine the water supply available for habitation throughout Seri-
land and adjacent Papagueria.

Another condition of prime importance arises in a secular tilting of
the entire province southwestward. This tilting is connected with the
upthrust of the Sierra Madre and the uplifting of the plateau country
and the southern Eocky mountain region north of the international
boundary. Its rate is measured by the erosion of the Grand Canyon of
the Colorado and other gorges; and its dates, in terms of the geologic
time-scale, run at least from the middle Tertiary to the present, or
throughout the Neocene and Pleistocene. Throughout this vast period
the effect of the tilting in the Sonoran province has been to invigorate
streams flowing southward, and to paralyze streams flowing toward
the northerly and easterly compass- points; accordingly the streams
flowing toward the gulf have eroded their channels effectively during
the ages, and have frequently retrogressed entirely through outlying
ranges; so that throughout the province the divides seldom correspond
with the sierra crests.

A typical stream of the province is Eio Bacuache, one of the two
practicable overland ways into Serilaud (albeit never surveyed until
traversed by the 1895 expedition). Viewed in its simple geographic
aspect, this stream may be said to originate in a broad valley parallel
with the gulf and the high sierra, 200 miles northeast of Kino bay; its
half dozen tributary arroyos (sun-baked sand-washes during three
hundred and sixty days and mud-torrents during five days of the
average year) gather in the sheetflood plain and unite at Pozo
Noriega, where the ground; water gives permanent supply to a well ; then
the channel cleaves a rocky sierra 3,000 feet high in a narrow gorge,
and within this canyon the ground-water gathered in the valley above
seeps to the surface of the sand wash and -flows in a practically perma
nent streamlet throughout the 4 or 5 miles forming the width of the
sierra; then the liquid sinks, and 25 miles of blistering sand-wash
(interrupted by a single lateral spring) stretch across the next valley

MCQEE]

RIO BACUACHE

to Pueblo Viejo, where another sierra is cleft by the channel, and
where the water again exudes and flows through a sand-lined rock-bed
(figure 2). In the local terminology this portion alone is Rio Bacuache,
the upper stretches of the waterway bearing different names ; it sup-
plies the settlement and fields of Bacuachito, flowing above the sands
5 to 15 miles, according to season; then it returns to the sand-wash
habit for 50 miles, throughout much of which distance wells may find
supply at increasing depths; finally it passes into tlie delta phase, and
enters northeastern Seriland in a zone marked by exceptionally vigor-
ous mesquite forests. Normally the 200 miles of streaniway is actual
stream only in two stretches of say 5 miles each, some 25 miles apart,

Fig. 2 — Gateway to Seriland — gorge of Ejo Baonache.

and the farther of these stops midway between the head of the chan-
nel and the open sea toward which it trends and slopes; but during
and after great storms it is transformed into a river approaching the
Ohio or the Rhine in volume, flowing tumultuously for 150 miles, and
finally sinking in the sands of Desierto Encinas, 30 to 50 miles from the
coast. Viewed with respect to genesis, Rio Bacuache has responded
to the stimulus of the southwestern tilting, and has retrogressed
up the slope through two sierras, besides minor ranges and 100 miles
of sheetflood-carved plains; while the debris thus gathered has filled
the original gorge to a depth of hundreds of feet, and has overflowed
the adjacent sheetflood-flattened expanses to form the great alluvial fan
of eastern Seriland. The genetic conditions explain the distribution

28 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

of the water : the product of the semiannual storms sufiftces to form a
meager supply of ground water, which is diffused in the sands and
softer rocks of the plains, and concentrated in the narrow channels
carved through the dense granites of the sierras ; and enough of the
flow passes the barriers to supply deep wells in the terminal fan, as at
the frontier ranches Libertad (abandoned) and Santa Ana, just as the
subterranean seepage from the Sonora more richly supplies the deep
well at San Francisco de Costa Eica. In these lower reaches the min-
eral salts, normally present in minute quantities, are concentrated so
that the water from these wells is slightly saline, while deeper in the
desert the scanty water is quite salt.

In Seriland proper the distribution of potable water is conditioned
by the meager precipitation, the local configuration (shaped largely by
sheetflood erosion), and the disturbance of equilibrium of the scanty
ground- water due to the tilting of the province. The most abundant
permanent supply of fresh water is that of Arroyo Oarrizal, which is
fed by drainage and seepage from the broad and lofty mass of pervious
rocks forming the southern part of Sierra Kunkaak, the abundant
supply being due to the fact that the eastern tributaries are energetic-
ally retrogressing into the mass in deep gorges which effectually tap
the water stored during the semiannual storms. The arroyo and valley
of Agua Dulce are less favorably conditioned byreason of atrend against
the tilting of the province and by reason of the narrower and lower
mass of tributary rock in the northern part of the range, and the flow
is impermanent, as indicated by the absence of canes and other stream
plants; yet four explorers (Ugarte, 1721; Hardy, 1826; Espence, 1844;
Dewey, 1875) reported fresh water, apparently in a shallow well tapping
the underflow, at the embouchure of the arroyo. On the eastern slope
of Sierra Kunkaak there are several arroyos which carry water for weeks
or even months after the winter rains, and sometimes after those of
summer; but the only permanent water — Tinaja Anita — is at the base
of a stupendous cliff' of exceptionally pervious and easily eroded rocks,
so deeply cut that ground- water is effectually tapped, while an adjacent
chasm — Arroyo Millard — is so situated that the cliff-faced spur of the
sierra above the tinaja absorbs an exceptional proportion of the surface
flowage from the main crest. The tinaja (figure 3) is permanent, as
indicated by a canebrake some 20 by 50 feet in extent, and by a native
fig and a few other trees — though the dry-season water-supply ranges
from mere moisture of the rocks to a few gallons caught in rock basins
within the first 50 yards of the head of the arroyo. No other perma-
nent supplies of fresh water are known on the island, though there are
a few rather persistent tinajas along the western base of Sierra Menor
above Willard point.

On the mainland tract there is a cliff-bound basin, much like that of
Tinaja Anita, at the head of Arroyo Mitchell and base of Johnson peak,
christened Tinaja Trinchera; but the range is narrow and the rocka

SCANT WATERS OF SERILAND

granitic, and hence the supply is not quite permanent.' A practically
permanent supply of water is found in one or more pools or barrancas
at the head of Playa Noriega in Desierto Bncinas. The liquid lies in
pools gouged by freshets in the bottoms of arroyos coming in from the
northward, just where the flow is checked by the spread of the waters
over the always saline playa; and, since they are modified by each
freshet, they are sometimes deep, sometimes shallow, sometimes en-
tirely sand-filled. When the barrancas are clogged, or when their
contents are evaporated, coyotes, deer, horses, and vaqueros obtain
water by excavating a few feet in the sand lining the larger arroyos.
Commonly the barranca water is too saline for Caucasian palates save

riG. 3— Tinaja Anita.

in dire extremity, but the salinity diminishes as the arroyos are
ascended. An apparently permanent supply of saline and nitrous
water is found in a 10-foot well, known as Pozo Bscalante, or Agua
Amarilla (yellow water), near the southern extremity of Desierto
Encin3,8, reputed to have been excavated by Juan Bautista de Bscalante
in 1700, and still remaining open ; its location is such that it catches
the subterranean seepage from both Bacuache and Sonora rivers. The
water is potable but not palatable. Among the vaqueros of San
Francisco de Costa Eica there is a vague and ancient tradition of a
carrizal-marked tinaja or arroyo (Aguaje Parilla) at the eastern base
of the southern portion of Sierra Seri; and both vaqueros and Indians

' Tin^a Trinchera was entirely dry and Tvithout trace of canizal in December, 1894.

30 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

refer to one or more saline barrancas about the western base of the
same semirange, probably in Arroyo Mariana.

In brief, Arroyo Oarrizal, Tinaja Anita, and Pozo Escalante are the
only permanent waters, and Pozo Hardy, Barranca Salina, and Tinaja
Triuchera the only subpermaneut waters actually known to Cau-
casians in all Seriland, though it seems probable that permanent
water may exist at Aguaje Parilla and iu Arroyo Mariana, and imper-
manent supplies near Bahia Espence. There may be one or two
additional places of practically permanent water in smaller quantity,
and a few other places in which saline water might be found either at
the surface or by slight excavation, and which may be approximately
located by inspection of the map under guidance of the principles set
forth in the preceding paragraphs ; but this would seem to be the limit
of trustworthy water supply. During the humid seasons the waters
are naturally multiplied, yet it is improbable that any of the »arroyos
except Oarrizal and Agua Dulce and a few minor gulches along the
more precipitous shores shed water into the gulf save at times of
extraordinary local flood.'

The geologic structure of the Sonorau province is complex and not
well understood. So far as the meager observations indicate, the basal
rocks are granites, frequently massive and sometimes schistose, some-
times intersected by veins of quartz, etc. The granitic mass is upthru«t
to form the nuclei of Sierra Madre and other considerable ranges; it
also approaches the surface over large areas of plains. Resting uncon-
formably on the granites lie heavy deposits of shales and limestones,
commonly more or less metamorphosed; these rocks outcrop on the
slopes of most of the main ranges and form the entire visible mass
of some of the lower sierras and buttes, while they, too, sometimes
approach the surface of the sheetflood-carved plain. The rocks, both
calcareous and argillaceous, combine the characters of the vast Mesozoic
limestone deposits of eastern Mexico and the immense shale accumula-
tions of corresponding age in California, aiid hence probably represent
the later half of the Mesozoic. This is the only sedimentary series
recognized in the province. Both the granites and the sedimentary
beds are occasionally overlain by volcanic deposits, chiefly in the form
of much-eroded lava-sheets and associated tuff- beds, which sometimes
form considerable ranges and buttes (nqtably Sierra Kunkaak, of
Isla Tiburon); ttiese remnantal volcanic deposits are probably late
Mesozoic or early Tertiary. Newer volcanics occur locally, forming
mesas, as about Agua Nueva (40 miles northwest of Hermosillo), or
even coulees apparently filling barrancas of modern aspect, as in the
vicinity of Bacuachito,^ or rising into cinder cones surrounded by

'Tliepliyaiographio features of the Sonoran province hi general are treated in greater detail In »
paper on Slieetflooil Erosion, Hull. Geol. Soc. Am., vol. viii, 1897, pp. 87-112, and in a paper on Papa-
gueria. Xat. Geog. Mag., vol. IX, 1898, pp. 345-371 j while certain local features are described m a paper
on Seriland, prepared .jointly with Willard D. Johnson, Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. vii, 1896, pp. 125-133. The
aggregate available fresh water of Seriland is estimated on p. 181.
^Noted by Willard D. Johnson.

MCGBE] GEOLOGIC HISTORY OF SONOEA 31

ejectamenta, as at Pico Pinacate, in nortliwestern Sonora. The various
rocks are usually bare or meagerly mantled with talus in the moun-
tains; over the greater part of the plains they are commonly veneered
with sheetflood deposits, ranging from a few inches to a few yards in
thickness; while the central portions of the larger valleys are lined
with alluvial accumulations reaching many hundreds of feet in thickness.

The clearly interpretable geologic history began with extensive
degradation and eventual baseleveling of a granitic terrane in Paleo-
zoic or early Mesozoictime; then followed the deposition of the shales
and associated limestones during the later Mesozoic; next came eleva-
tion, accompanied or followed by corrugation, chiefly in folds parallel
with the present coast, whereby the granite-based sierras were pro-
duced, and accompanied also by the earlier vulcanism to which the
volcanic sierras owe their existence. A vast period of degradation
ensued, during which the land stood so high as to induce greater precip-
itation than that of today and to permit the streams to carve channels
far below the present level of tide, and during which the present gen-
eral configuration was developed; then came the south westward tilting
and consequent climatal desiccation, the filling of the deei)er valleys,
the inauguration of sheetflood erosion, some local vulcanism, and the
progressive shifting of the divides.

The geologic structure affects the hydrography, especially that factor
determined by subterranean circulation, or ground-water; for the
superficial sheetflood and alluvial deposits are highly pervious and
many of the volcanics hardly less so, while the shales and limestones
are but slightly pervious and the granites nearly impervious. The
geologic structure also determines the character of the soil with excep-
tional directness, since the dryness of the air and the dearth of vegeta-
tion reduce rock decay to a negligible quantity. The characteristically
precipitous sierras and cerros are of naked ledges, save where locally
mantled with a mechanical debris of the same rocks (much finer than
the frost product of colder and humider regions) ; the soil of the normal
plains is but the little-oxidized upper surface of sheetflood deposits
made up of the mechanical debris of local rocks and varying in coarse-
ness with the slope; while the soil of the valleys is detrital sand and
silt, derived from tributary slopes, passing into adobe where conditions
are fit, and essentially mechanical in texture and structure save where
cemented by ground-water solutions at the lower levels.

Flora

The flora of the Sonoran province affords a striking example of the
adjustment of vegetal life to an unfavorable environment. The pre-
vailing vegetation is perennial, of slow growth and of stunted aspect;
and it is not distributed uniformly but arranged in separate tufts or
clusters, gathering into a nearly continuous mantle in wetter spots,
though commonly dotting the plains sparsely, to completely disappear

32 THE SERX INDIANS [eth.ann.17

in the driest areas. I*f early all of the plants have roots of exceptional
length, and are protected from evaporation by a glazed epidermis and
from animal enemies by thorns or by offensive odors and flavors; while
most of the trees and shrubs are practically leafless except during the
humid seasons. Grasses are not characteristic, and there is no sward,
even in oases ; but certain grasses grow in the shadow of the arbores-
cent tufts and in the fields of the farmer ants, or spring up in scattered
blades over the moister portions of the surface. The arborescent veg-
etation represents two characteristic types, viz, (1) trees and shrubs
.allied to those of humid lands, but modified to fit arid conditions; and
(2) distinctive forms, evidently born of desert conditions and not adapted
to a humid habitat, this type comprising the cacti and related forms,
as well as forms apparently intermediate between the cacti and normal
arborescent type. The various plants of the district, including those
of the distinctive types, are communal or commensal, both* among
themselves and with animals, to a remarkable degree; for their com-
mon strife against the, hard physical environment has forced them into
cooperation for mutual support. The tufts or clusters in which the
vegetation is arranged express the solidarity of life in the province;
commonly each cluster is a vital colony, made up of plants of various
genera and orders, and forming a home for animal life also of difterent
genera and orders; and, although measurably inimical, these various
organisms are so far interdependent that none could survive without
the cooperation of the others.'

In Seriland proper, as in other parts of the Sonoran province, a pre-
vailing tree is the mesquite [Prosopis juUflora) ; on the alluvial fan of
Eio Sonora it grows in remarkable luxuriance, forming (with a few
other trees) a practically continuous forest 20 to 40 feet in height, the
gnarled trunks sometimes reaching a diameter of 2 or 3 feet; over the
Eio Bacuache fan and much of the remaining plain surface it forms the
dominant tree in the scattered vital colonies; and here and there it
pushes well into the canyon gorges. The roots of the mesquite are of
great length, and are said to penetrate to water-bearing strata at depths
of 50 to 75 feet; its fruit consists of small hard beans embedded in slen-
der woody pods. Associated with the mesquite in most stations are the
still more scraggy and thorny cat-claw {Acacia greggii) and ironwood
[Olneya tesota), both also yielding woody beans in limited quantity.
Similarly associated, especially in the drier tracts, and characteristically
abundant over the plains portions of Isla Tiburon, are the paloverdes
(Parkinsonia torreyana, etc), forming scraggy, wide-branching, green-
bark trees 5 to 15 feet high, and commonly 3 to 10 inches in diameter
of trunk. Over the mountain sides, especially of Sierra Seri and Sierra
Kunkaak, grow sparsely the only straight-trunk trees of the region,
rooted in the rocks to the average number of a few score to the square

'The vital characteristics of the regiou have been described in some detail in The Beginning of
Agricnltnre, American Anthropologist, vol. viil, 1805, pp. 350-376 ; The Beginning of Zooculture, Amer-
ican Anthropologist, vol. X, 1887, pp. 215-230; and Expedition to Seriland, Science, vol. ill, 1896, pp.4S3-50S.

MCGEE]

THE MEAGER DESERT FLORA

mile; this is the paloblanco {Acacia ivillardiana). Associated with it
along rocky barrancas of permanent water supply is a fig tree [Ficus
palmeri), which has a habit of springing from the walls and crests of
cliffs, and sending white-bark roots down the cliff-faces to the water
50 or 100 feet below, and which yields a small, insipid, and woody fruit.
Interspersed among the larger trees, and spreading over the intervening
spaces, particularly in the drier and more saline spots, grow a number
of thorny shrubs, much alike in external appearance and habit, though
representing half a dozen distinct genera ( Cassia, Microrhamnus, Celtis,
Krameria, Acacia, Bandia, Stegnospherma, FranJcenia, etc), while con-
siderable tracts are sparsely occupied by straggling tufts of the Sonoran

Fig. 4 — Beyond Enciuas dOBert — the saguesa.

greasewood, or creosote bush {Larrea tridentata), whose minute but
bright green leafage relieves that prevailing gray of the landscape in
which the lighter greens of the paloverde and cactus stems are lost.

Intermingling with the woody trees and shrubs in most stations, and
replacing them in some, are the conspicuous and characteristic cacti
in a score of forms. Bast of Desierto Encinas, and sometimes west
of it, these are dominated by the sagaaro (Gereus giganteus), though
throughout most of Seriland the related saguesa (Genus pringleii?)
prevails. The saguaro is a fluted and thorn-decked column, 1 foot to 3
feet in diameter and 10 to 60 feet in height, sometimes branching
into a candelabrum, while the still more monstrous saguesa (figure 4)
usually consists of from three to ten such columns springing from a
17 ETH 3

34 THE SEE! INDIANS [bth.ahn.IT

single root; both are masses of watery pulp, revived and, renewed
during each humid season, and hoth flower in a crown of fragrant
and brilliant blossoms at or near the top of column or branch, and
fruit in lig-like tunas (or prickly pears) during late summer or early
autumn. Ordinarily the saguesa, like the saguaro, is sparsely dis-
tributed ; but there is an immense tract between Desierto Encinas and
the eastern base of Sierra Seri in which it forms a literal forest, the
giant trunks close-set as those of trees in normal woodlands. Hardly
less imposing than the giant cactus is the wide-branching species
known as pitahaya ( Cereus thurburi ?), in which the trunks may be ten
to fifty ill number, each 4 to 8 inches in diameter and 5 to 40 feet in
height; and equally conspicuous, especially in eastern Seriland, is the
cina {Gereus schotti), which is of corresponding size, and differs chiefly
in the simpler fluting of the thorn-protected columns. Both the pita-
haya and the cina flower and fruit like the saguaro, the tunas yielded
by the former being especially esteemed by Mexicans as well as Indians.
Another important cactus is the visnaga (JEcMnocactus wislizeni lecon-
tei), which rises in a single trunk much like the saguaro, save that it
is commonly but 3 to 6 feet in height and is protected by a more eflfect-
ive armature of straight and curved thorns ; it yields a pleasantly acid,
pulpy fruit, which may be extracted from its thorny setting with some
diflSculty; but its chief value lies in the purity and potability of the
water with which the pulpy trunk is stored. The visnaga is widely
distributed throughout the Sonoran province and beyond, and extends
into eastern Seriland; it is rare west of Desierto Encinas and is prac-
tically absent from Isla Tiburon, where it may easily have been
exterminated by the improvident Seri during the centuries of their
occupancy. Most abundant of all the cacti, and lesS' conspicuous
only by reason of comparatively small size, is the choUa (an arborescent
Opuntia) ; on many of the sheetflood-carved plains it forms extensive
thickets 5 to 8 feet high, the main trunks being 2 to 6 inches in diame-
ter, while dozens or hundreds of gaunt and thorn-covered branches ex-
tend 3 to 8 feet in. all directions ; and it occurs here and there throughout
the district from the depths of the valleys and the coast well up to the
rocky slope of the sierras. It yields quantities of fruit, somewhat like
tunas, but more woody and insipid; this fruit is, seldom if ever used
for human food, but is freely consumed by herbivores. Much less
abundant than the cholla is the nopal, or prickly pear; and there are
various other opuntias, often too slender to stand alone and intertwined
with stiffer shrubs which lend them support, and many of these yield
small berry like tunas. Another characteristic cacttis, widespread as
the cholla and abundant in nearly all parts of Seriland save on the
rocky slopes, is the okatilla {Fouquiera splendens). It consists of half a
dozen to a score of slender, woody, and thorn-set branches radiating
from a common root, usually at angles of 30° to 45° from the vertical,
and ordinarily reaching heights of 10 to 20 feet.

MCGKE] COMMUNALITY OP DESERT LIFE 35

The pulp masses of the larger cacti, especially the saguaro, saguesa,
pitahaya, and cina, are supported by woody skeletons in the form of
vertical ribs coincident with the external flutings; within a few years
after the death and decay of these desert monsters the skeletons
weather out, and the vertical ribs form light and strong and approxi-
mately straight bars or shafts, valuable for many industrial purposes;
while the slender arms of okatilla are equally valuable, in the fresh
condition after removal of the spiny armament, and in the weathered
state without special preparation.

On many of the higher plain-slopes, especially iu eastern Seriland,
there are pulpy stemmed shrubs and bushes, sometimes reaching the
dignity of trees, which present the normal aspect of exogenous peren-
nials during life, but which are so spongy throughout as to shrink into
shreds of bark like debris shortly after death. These are the torotes
of the Sonoran province — common torote (Jatropha cardiophylla), torote
amarillo {Jatropha spathulata), torote bianco {Bursera microphylla),
torote prieto (Bursera laxiflora), torotito (Jatropha canescens ?), etc.
These plants grow in the scattered and scraggy tufts characteristic of
arid districts (a typical torote tuft appears in left foreground of figure 4) ;
they are protected from evaporation by the usual glazed epidermis,
and maintained by the water absorbed during the humid seasons ; but
they are thornless and are protected from animal enemies by pungent
odors, and at least in some cases by toxic juices. Like various plants of
the province they are measurably communal — indeed, the torotito appears
to be dependent on union with an insect for reproduction, like certain
yuccas, and like the cina and (in some degree at least) the saguaro and
other cacti.

Along the lower reaches of Efo Bacuache, and in some of the deeper
gorges of Sierra Seri and Sierra Kunkaak, grow a few veritable trees
of moderately straight trunk and grain and solid wood, such as the
guaiacan (Ouaiacum coulteri) and sanjuaaito [Jacquinia pungens); both
of these fruit, the former in a wahoolike berry of medicinal properties,
and the latter iu a nut, edible when not quite ripe and forming a favor-
ite rattle-bead when dry. On the flanks of such gorges the slender-
branched baraprieta {Gcesalpinia gracilis) grows up in the shelter of
more vigorous shrubs, its branches yielding basketry material, while
its fruit is a woody bean much like that of the cat-claw. In like sta-
tions there are occasional clumps of yerba mala or yerba de flecha
{Sebastiana bilocularis), an exceptionally leafy bush growing in straight
stems suitable for arrowshafts, and alleged to be poisonous from root
to leaf — with inherent probability, since the plant is without the thorny
armature normal to the desert. Along the sand-washes, especially
about their lower extremities wet only in floods, springs a subannual
plant {Hymenoclea monogyra) which shrinks to stunted tussocks after
a year or more of drought, but flourishes in close-set fens after floods;
though of acrid flavor and sage-like odor, it is eaten by herbivores in

36 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

time of need, and it yields abundant seeds, consumed by birds, small
animals, and men. About all of the permanent waters not invaded by
white men and the white man's stock there are brakes of cane or car-
rizal {Phragmites communis 1) ; the jointed stems are half an inch to
an inch in thickness and 8 to 25 feet in height; the seeds are edible,
while the stems form the material for balsas and afford shafts for arrows,
harpoons, flre-sticks, etc., and the silica-coated joints may be used for
incising tough tissues.

The coasts of Seriland, both insular and mainland, are skirted by
zones of exceptionally luxuriant shrubbery, maintained chiefly by fog
moisture. Along the mountainous parts of the coast the zone is nar-
row and indefinite, but on the plains portions it extends inland for sev-
eral miles with gradually fading characters; this is especially true in
the southern portion of Desierto Encinas, where the fog effects may be
observed in the vegetation 12 or 15 miles from the coast. Most of the
fog fed species are identical ^ith those of the interior, though the
shrubs are more luxuriant and are otherwise distinctive in habit. On
the Tiburon side of gale-swept EI Inflernillo, and to some extent along
other parts of the coast, some of these shrubs (notably Maytenus phyl-
lanthroides) grow in dense hedge-like or mat-like masses, often yards
in extent and permanently modeled by the wind in graceful dune-like
shapes. Somewhat farther inland the flatter coastwise zones of Tiburon
are rather thickly studded with shrubby clumps from 6 inches to 2 feet
high, made up of Frankenia palmeri with half a dozen minor com-
munals; while still farther inland follows the prevailing Sonoran
flora of mesquite, scrubby paloverde, ahd chaparral (Geltis pallida),
etc, only a little more luxuriant than the normal.

Throughout Seriland proper, and especially in the interior valleys of
Tiburon, grasses are more prevalent than in other portions of the
Sonoran province, their abundance doubtless being due to the rarity of
graminiverous animals during recent centuries.

Fauna

Considered collectively, the fauna of the Sonoran province is meas-
urably distinctive (though less so than the flora), especially in the habits«
of the organisms. The prevailing animals, like the plants of extrane-
ous type, evidently represent genera and sgecies developed under more
humid conditions and adjusted to the arid province through a long-
continued and severe process of adaptation; and no fundamentally
distinct orders or types comparable with the cacti and torotes of the
vegetal realm are known. The prime requisite of animal life in the
province is ability to dispense with drinking, either habitually or for
long intervals, and to maintain structure and function in the heated
air despite the exceptionally small consumption of water; the second
requisite is ability to cooperate in the marveloualy complete solidarity
of animal and vegetal life characteristic of subdesert regions. No

MCGKE] FANGS AND VENOM OP THE DESEET 37

systematic studies have been made of special structures iu the animal
bodies adapting them to retention of liquids, either by storage (as in
the stomach of the camel) or by diminished evaporation, though the
prevalence of practically nonperspiring mammals, scale-covered rep-
tiles, and chitincoated insects suggests the selection, if not the devel-
opment, of the fitter genera and species for the peculiar environment.
Mnoh more conspicuous are the characters connected with cooperation
in the ever severe but never eliminative strife for existence in the sub-
desert solidarity; the mammals are either exceptionally swift liiie the
antelope, exceptionally strong like the local lion, exceptionally pugna-
cious and prolific like the peccary, or exceptionally capable of subsist-
ing on waterless sierras like the bura and mountain goat; the reptiles
are either exceptionally swift like the rainbow-hued lizards, exception-
ally armed like the sluggish horned toads, exceptionally venomous
like the rattlesnake, or exceptionally repulsive, if not poisonous, like
the Gila monster; even the articulates avoid the mean, and arc excep-
tionally swift, exceptionally protective in form and coloring, excep-
tionally venomous like the tarantula and scorpion and centipede, or
exceptionally intelligent like the farmer ant and the tarantula-hawk;
while there is apparently a considerable class of insects completely
dependent on the cooperation of plants for the perpetuation of their
kind, including the yuica moth and (undeseribed) cactus beetle. Among
plants the intense individuality (which is the obverse of the enforced
solidarity) is expressed in thorns and heavily lacquered seeds and toxic
principles; among animals it is expressed by chitinous armament, as
well as by fleetness and fangs and deadly venom.

The larger land animals of Seriland proper are the mountain goat in
the higher sierras, the bura (or mule-deer) and the white-tail deer on
the mid-height plains and larger alluvial fans, with the antelope on
the lower and drier expanses. Associated with these are the ubiqui-
tous coyote, a, puma, a jaguar of much local repute which roams the
higher rocky sites, and a peccary ranging from the coast over the allu-
vial fans and mid-height plains of the mainland (though it is apparently
absent from Tiburon). Of the smaller mammals the hare (or jack-
rabbit) and rabbit are most conspicuous, while a long-tail nocturnal
squirrel abounds, its burrows and tunnels penetrating the plains of
finer debris so abundantly as to render these plains, especially on
Tiburon, impassable for horses and nearly so for men. The California
quail and the small Sonorau dove are fairly common ; a moderate num-
ber of small birds haunt the more humid belts, and there is a due pro-
portion of Mexican eagles and hawks of two or three forms, with still
more numerous vultures. Ants abound, dominating the insect life,
while wasps and spiders, with various flies and midges, gather about
the vital colonies of the drier plains and swarm in the moister belts.
Horned toads and various lizards— bright-colored and swift, or earth-
tinted and sluggish — are fairly abundant, while black-tail rattlesnakes

38 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.IT

haunt the more luxuriant vegetation of fog zones, permanent waters,
and cienegas. On the whole, the laud fauna of Serilaud is much like
that of the province in general, though the various forms of life are less
abundant than the average, since all (except the abounding squirrel)
are sought for food by the omnivorous Seri; and the distribution, even
when relatively abundant, is woefully sparse, as befits the scant and
scattered vegetal foundation for the animal life.

Strongly contrasted with the meagerness of the land fauna is the
redundant aquatic fauna of that portion of the gulf washing the shores
of Seriland. Tiburon island is named from the sharks, said by some
explorers to have been seen by thousands along its coasts; these
voracious feeders find ample food in literal shoals and swarms of smaller
fishes ; a not inconsiderable number of whales have survived the early
fisheries (one, estimated at 80 feet in length, was stranded in Rada
Ballena about 1887) ; while schools of porpoises play about Boca Inflerno
and elsewhere, making easy prey of slower swimmers caught in the
tide-rips and gale-swept breakers. Proportionately abundant and varied
is the crustacean life; littoral moUusks cling to the ledges exposed along
all the rocky coast stretches, and the entire beach from Punta Antlgualla
to Punta Ygnacio is banded by a practically continuous bank of wave-
cast molluscan shells, the shell-drift being often yards in width and
many inches in depth. Common crabs abound in many of the coves,
and a large lobster-like crab frequently comes up from deeper bights and
bottoms; oysters attach themselves to rocks and to the roots of shrubby
trees skirting protected bays like Eada Ballena, while clams are numer-
ous in all broad mud-flats, such as those of Laguna la Cruz; and the
pearl oyster was fished for centuries toward Punta Tepopa, until the
ferocity of the Seri put an end to the industry. Especially abundant
and large are the green turtles on which the Seri chiefly subsist, leaving
the shells scattered along the shore and about rancherias in hundreds;
while two land tortoises {Oopher.us agassizii and Oinosternum sonorense)
range about the margins of the lagoons, and one of these is alleged to
enter the water freely.

The abundance of water-fowl is commensurate with that of the subma-
rine life. The pelican leads the avifauna in prominence if not in actual
numbers, breeding on Isla Tassne (Pelican island), and periodically
patrolling the whole of Bahia Kunkaak and El Infiernillo in lines and
platoons of military regularity; gulls are always in sight, and the cor-
morant is common; while different ducks haunt several of the islets, and
the shores are promenaded by curlews, snipes, and other waders. There
is a corresponding wealth of plankton, which at low spring tide with
offshore gale covers acres of shallow littoral with squirming or inert
but always slimy life, the substratum for that of higher order; and
jellyfish and eohinoids are cast up by nearly every wave, while at night
the surf rolls up the smooth strands in shimmering lines of phosphor-
escent light. On the whole, the aquatic life teems in tropic luxuriance

MtGBB] THE ABUNDANT AQUATIC LIFE 39

and more than ordinary littoral variety; for the waters of the gulf are
warmed by radiation and conduction from its aun-parched basin, while
the concentrated tides distribute and stimulate the species and keep
the vital streams astir.

Local Features

Considered as a tribal habitat, Seriland comprises, four subdivisions
of measurably distinct character, viz, (1) the broad desert bounding
the territory on the east; (2) the mountainous zone of Sierra Seri; (3)
Tibaron island and the neighboring islets; and (4) the navigable straits
and bays contiguous to island and mainland.

1. So far as its marginal portions are concerned, Desierto Encinas
is a typical valley of the Sonoran province, sparsely dotted with vital
colonies of the prevailing type and variegated by the exceptionally
luxuriant mesquite forests of the Bacuache and Sonora fans; but the
interior of the valley is rendered distinct by the fact that it lies near,
if not below, the level of the sea.' The central feature is Playa
Noriega — a film of brackish water for a few days after each consider-
able semiannual freshet, a sheet of saline mud for a few weeks later,
and for the greater part of the year a salt-crusted sherd 20 square miles
in area, level as a floor and unimpressionable as a brick pavement.
The playa is rimmed by dunes 10 to 40 feet in height, and about these
and along the arroyos which occasionally break into it there is some
aggregation of salt-enduring shrubs, evidently sustained in part by the
semiannual freshet with its meager vapors and fogs. Outside this
rim the surface is exceptionally broken; low dunes and irregularly
wandering banks of soft and dust fine sand are interspersed with
meandering salt flats much like the central playa, ranging from a few
feet in width and a few yards in length up to mappable dimensions, as
in the lesser playa lying east of the great one; and many of the dust-
banks are honeycombed with squirrel burrows. This annulus of broken
surface is narrow on the west, soon passing into okatilla scrub and then

• The expedition of 1895, during whicli Seriland was eurveyed, waa not provided witli apparatus
for accurate vertical measarement, and hence altitudes were only approximately determined. The
determinations by Mr Johnson, who executed the topographic surveys, indicated that even the
lowest part of the valley is somewhat above sea-level; but other facts indicate that it actually lies
below the level of tbe waters of the gulf, and forms a miniature homologueof Colorado desert (in south-
ern California) ; in the first place the central playa, which is undoubtedly flooded occasionally if not
semiannually, does not embouch into, and has uo channels extending toward, the sea ; in the second place
it is highly saline; again, the alluvial fans of Kio Bacuache and (especially) of Rio Sonora are so
placed as to intercept and dam the trough occupied by Laguna la Cruz in its southern portion, and
Playa Noriega in its northern portion ; concordantly, tbe detail configuration of the coast indicates
marine transgression, apparently due to secular subsidence of the land — though the abundant marine
shells of recent species toward the valley-bottom attest recent displacement of the sea. On tbe whole,
the facts seem to indicate that, during recent geologic times, the lower portion of this valley was a
shallow gulf extending northward (and probably also southward) from the eastern limit of Eahia
Kino ; that the importation and deposition of sediment, chiefly by Kio Sonora, outran the secularsub-
sidence of the land so far as to displace the waters of the gulf in its central portion and to separate the
northern arm from the sea; and that the waters of this northern arm were subsequently evaporated,
disappearing finally in the central playa in which local inflow and evaporation are balanced by the
usual mechanism of interior basins.

40 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

into the saguesa forests of the eastern base of Sierra Seri; on the east
it is miles in breadth, passing gradually into the normal Sonoi'an plain;
on the south it widens still farther, stretching all the way to Arenales
de Gil and Pozo Escalante, and merging into the playa like mud-flats
bordering Laguna la Cruz, into which the gulf waters are sometimes
forced by southwesterly gales at high spring tides. Throughout this
portion of the desert, marine shells are scattered over the playa-like
flats or lodged in the adjacent banks, sometimes in great beds; the
vegetation is scantier than usual and largely of salt-loving habit; the
mud-flats are usually coated with saline and alkaline crusts, while the
dunes are soft and fluffy, and expand into broad belts perforated with
the tunnels of the surprisingly abundant rodents. Across this plain
of bitter sand-dust lie the two hard land routes to Seriland— the sup-
posed Escalante route of 1700, down the fan of Eio Bacuache and
thence by Barranca Salina; and the Bncinas route, down the florthern
border of the Rio Sonora fan and thence by Pozo Escalante to the
shores of Bahia Kino.^

Desierto Encinas is an impossible human habitat in any proper sense ;
it is merely a broad and hardly passable boundary between habitats.
The hardy stock of the frontier ranchos, pasturing partly on the thorny
fruit of the choUa, push far out on the plains, and are sometimes watered
for short periods, under strong guards of heavily armed vaqueros, at
Barranca Salina; yet the greater part of the expanse is trodden only
by the Seri. Two or three ruined frames of Seri jacales and a few
graves crown the low knoll near Pozo Escalante, and there are one or
two house remnants near Barranca Salina; these are notable not only
as the easternmost remaining outposts of Seri occupancy, but because
they represent the only known instances in all Seriland of the erection
of even temporary houses adjacent to water. Distinct paths, trodden
deep by bare Seri feet, radiate from both waters toward the Seriland
interior, but no traceable trail's extend eastward.

The southern limit of Desierto Encinas is marked either by the broad
mud-flats opening into Laguna la Cruz or by the coast of the gulf, the
coast cutting the lower portions of the plain being accentuated by a
sand-liank 30 or 40 feet high, against which the surf thunders in nearly
continuous roar, audible halfway or all the way to Pozo Escalante. A

Seri trail skirts the crest of this bank, sending occasional branches into

1 Both the routes were traversed by the expedition of 1895, the former ftom the headwaters of Kio
Bacuache to the upper portion of its alluvial fan, and then from the abandoned Rancho Libertad on
the lower portion of the fan across Desierto Encinas by way of Barranca Saliua. In the northern
crossing a light vehicle (the first to traverse this portion of the desert), drawn by four horses and
aided by several horsemen, was taken from Eancho Libertad across the northern portion of Playa
Noriega and thence np Arroyo Mitchell to a point midway between Barranca Salina and Johnson
peals, and was brought bacls over the same route. The Encinas trail from Eancho San Francisco de
Costa Rica was traversed four times each way by the same outfit, and once each way by the running
gear of a heavy wagon carrying the rude craft (about 1,000 pounds in weight) in which the Seri
waters were navigated, this vehicle being drawn by 8 to 12 horses, frequently changed. Typical
aspects of both routes are shown in plate in, the upper figure representing the Encinas trail and
the lower a distant view of Sierra Seri, taken from Playa Noriega, in the depths of Desierto Encinas.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. Ill

SERI FRONTIER

SIERRA SERI FROM ENCINAS DESERT

MCGEE] BARREN VALLEYS AND RANGES 41

the interior. At Punta Autigualla the bank expands and rises into a
great mammillated sliell-mound nearly 100 feet liigb, with several of
the cusps occupied by more or less ruined jacales ; and occasionally occu-
pied bouses occur midway thence to the southernmost point of Sierra
Seri, and again at the base of the first spur east of Punta Ygnacio.
Beyond Punta Antigualla the sweep of the waves is stronger than in
Bahia Kino, and the coastal sand-bank is generally higher. Between the
rocky buttresses of Punta Ygnacio and the next spur eastward the sand-
ridge rises fully 50 feet above mean low tide, and here, as elsewhere,
its verge is protected by a fog-fed chaparral thicket with occasional
clumps of okatilla and other cacti. Behind the coast barrier lie lagoon-
like basins, generally dry and floored with saline silt-beds, though
sometimes occupied by briny pools formed through seepage during
southwesterly gales; and there are physiographic indications that the
northwestward extension of Laguna la Cruz formerly stretched some
miles farther than now and lay in the rear of Punta Antigualla in
sucli wise as to form a source of supply of the clam-shells of which the
eminence is built.

2. Sierra Seri is a double range, divided mid-length by a broad saddle
barely 2,000 feet in height.' Like other Souoran ranges, the nucleal
portions are exceedingly rugged and precipitous — at least two of its
picachos shoot so boldly that they commonly seem to overhang, and
have been called leaning peaks. In large part the precipices rise
abruptly from a symmetrical dome molded by sheetflooding, much as
the insulated buttes rise from the Bacuache fan in northeastern Seri-
land; so that the tract lying between Desierto Encinas and El Infler-
nillo is a composite of exceptionally precipitous and exceptionally
smooth mountain slopes. One of the Seri trails radiating from Bar-
ranca Salina lies across the mid-sierra saddle; others push into several
mountain valleys, and the largest leads to Tinaja Trinchera, at the
base of Johnson peak, where there are a few low walls of loose-laid
rubble, somewhat like those of the trincheras (entrenched mountains)
farther eastward — the only structures of the sort seen in Seriland.
Toward the southern end of the range lie various trails, the most con-
spicuous paralleling the coast, either near the shore or over the steep
salients, according to the configuration; while here and there ruinous
jacales a few yards from the coast attest sporadic habitation. The
eastern shore of Bahia Kunkaak from Punta Ygnacio northward
reveals a typical geologic section of the Souoran province: the trans-
gressing waves have carved in the granitic subterrane a broad shelf
lying just below mean low tide and usually stretching several furlongs
offshore; this shelf is relieved here and there by remnantal crags of
obdurate rocks, cumbered by bowlders and locally sheeted with sand
and arkose derived from mechanically disintegrated granite; while the

*Th6 nortliern portion, aa seen from the east, is shown in plate iii; the aoutbern portion, as seen
from the west, appears in the upper part of plate iv, while the southwesternmost point ia shown in
the lower part of the same plate.

42 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.i?

inDer margin of the shelf is a sea-cliff, usually 30 to 50 feet high, of
which the lower half is commonly granite and the upper half unconsoli-
dated and recent-looking mechanical debris collected by sheetflood
erosion. Sometimes the granite of the subterraiie is replaced by vol-
canics; sometimes ancient and firmly cemented talus deposits separate
the superficial mantle from the subterrane, as shown in the lower part
of plate V; sometimes the line of sheetflood planation passes below
tide-level, when the waves beat against the unconsolidated deposits in
a deep embayment; sometimes the sharply defined planation surface
ends abruptly at the sides of subranges or buttes shooting upward in
the abrupt slopes characteristic of the sierra proper ; yet this 10-mile
stretch of coast is a nearly continuous revelation of the structure of
sheetflood-carved plains and of modern marine transgression. The
debris of the combined processes forms an abundant and varied assort-
ment of bowlders, cobbles, and pebbles, whence the inhabitants readily
derive their simple implements without need for studied forethought
or manual cunning. ^

The long sand-spit terminating in Punta Miguel and the shorter one
terminating in Punta Arena are the product of geologically recent
wave building, and consist of irregular series of V-bars, backed by
lagoon-like basins and enclosing considerable bodies of brine in the
central portions; and the bars and basins become successively higher
outward, in such wise as to attest the secular subsidence of this coast.
Several jacales are located on the higher portion of the southern saud-
spit, midway between Punta Granita and Punta Miguel, while foot-
paths traverse the flat and skirt the coast. Toward the terminal por-
tion of the spit the sand is blown into hummocks, held by clumps ot
salt enduring and sand-proof shrubbery; but there are no rancherias
here, despite the fact that it is a natural point of embarkation— doubt-
less because no Seri structure could withstand the sand-drifting gales
and storm inundations of this exposed spot. The more protected
lagoons behind the outer bars harbor abundant waterfowl, within
bowshot of shrub-clumps and dunes well adapted to the concealment
of hunters, while the mudflats open to the tide abound in clams and
other edible things. The features of the Punta Miguel sand-spit are
repeated with variations along the eastern shore of El Inflernillo; and
Seri jacales, evidently designed for temporary occupancy, occur here
and there, usually on higher banks above* reach of the severer storms.

3. Tiburon island itself is apparently the chosen home of the Seri—
a habitat to which the mainland tract is at once a dependency, an alter-
native refuge, and a circumvallation. Its dominant range, Sierra Kun-
kaak, mates Sierra Seri in its essential features, though the rocks are
for the greater part ordinarily obdurate eruptives rather than excep-
tionally obdurate granites, as in the mainland sierra; accordingly the
range is somewhat lower and broader, while the sheetflood sculpture,
with its sharp transition into precipitous cliffs, is somewhat less trench-

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. IV

SIERRA SERI FROM TIBURON ISLAND

PUNTA YGNACIO, TIBURON BAY

MCGEE) THE SURFACE OF TIBUEON 43

ant. Sierra Meuor is a third term in the mountain series, in structure
and geomorphy as in altitude; while the interior plain is a homologue
of that portion of Desierto Encinas lying north of Playa Noriega —
i. e., of its (potentially) free-drained portion. Almost the entire perim-
eter of Tiburon is suffering marine transgression, and is faced with
seacliffs overlooking wave-carved shelves; and in both form and struc-
ture the greater part of the coast repeats, with minor variations, the
features of the mainland coast from Punta Ygnacio northward. Partly
because of the superior magnitude and height of its debris-yielding
sierra, partly because of protection from the wave-beat of the open
gulf, the eastern shore is skirted with a talus-shape slope, usually two
to four miles wide; and while there are unmistakable evidences of
sheetflood carving in the higher portions of this plane, the coastal cliff'
commonly reveals nothing but heterogeneous debris, sometimes rising
thirty or forty feet above tide. Somewhat the greater part of the vol-
ume of this debris is fine — i. e., sand and silt and nondescript rock-
matter; but there is always a considerable element of larger rock-
fragments, which gather along the shore in a pavement of bowlders
and cobbles (upper figure of plate v). These coarse materials — impor-
tant factors in aboriginal industry — are harmoniously distributed ; more
conspicuously on the ground than on the map, the coast is set with
salients (of which Punta Narragansett is a type), consisting merely of
exceptional accumulations of debris from gorges in the sierra and from
shallow arroyos, or pebble washes, traversing the coastwise plain. These
salients owe their prominence partly to the relative coarseness, i^artly
to the abundant supply, of fragmental material from the heights; and
about their extremities the beach is paved with bowlders, which grade
to cobbles or even to pebbles along the reentrant shores on either
hand. This distribution of cobbles is one of the conditions govern-
ing the placement of Seri rancherias ; and in many cases the jacales are
located, either singly or in groups, where the coastal salients and
reentrants meet, and where there is an abundant supply of cobbles of
convenient size and wave- tested hardness.

The coastwise plain skirting eastern Tiburon has a few wave built
projections analogous to those east of El Inflernillo; the most con-
spicuous of these are Punta Tormenta, Punta Tortuga, and Punta
Perla with its tide-swept extensions, Bajios de Ugarte. All of these
are located primarily by sierra-fed arroyos, but all are greatly extended
by wave-borne material laid down along lines determined by the pre-
vailing currents of this best-protected portion of the coast. The long
outer face of Punta Tormenta, shaped by the storms of Bahia Kun-
kaak, is strikingly regular and symmetric; its broad extremity and
inner face are diversified by subordinate bars and lagoons, evidently
tending to connect with the main coast toward Punta Tortuga, and
thereby to transform the whole of Rada Ballena into a lagoon.
Already the narrow embayment is so shallow that, although a com-

44 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

fortable haven at high tide, it is mostly mud-flat and sand-waste at
extreme low tide — a condition which explains the stranding of an
80-foot whale in this treacherous harbor about 1887. The rada is
between two and three miles in length. It abounds in marine life of
kinds preferring quieter waters: clams are plentiful in its mud-flats,
a sponge lines portions of the bottom toward its inner extremity,
oysters cluster numerously on bowlders and on the mangrove- like roots
and trunks of a large shrub along the outer shore, and various fishes
find refuge here from the fierce currents and the hungry sharks and
porpoises of the open strait; these and other creatures form food for
innumerable waders and other water-fowl that seek shelter in the quiet
bay, which is still further protected by salt-enduring shrubbery on the
bars of the point and by the shrubby thickets and wave-cast banks
and wind built dunes on the mainland side.

The combination of conditions renders this portion of ttfe Tiburon
coast the optimum habitat of the Seri Indians. There are, indeed, no
houses or other traces of permanent habitation on Punta Tormenta itself,
which is not only swept by gales but must sometimes be inundated by
gale-driven waters at high spring tide; but at the inner end of the
long sand-spit, and also on the mainland opposite the outer portion of
Rada Ballena, there are extensive and well-kept rancherias, capacious
enough to accommodate comfortably thirty or forty Seri families, i. e.,
150 or 200 persons. Toward its landward end the sand-spit is built
largely of pebbles and cobbles, of which thousands of tons are adapted
to industrial use; sea-food is practically unlimited and is readily taken;
water-fowl literally crowd the protected rada within arrow-shot of
natural cover; the outer slope of the bar is admirably suited for
landing and embarking balsas in calm weather, while the bay is an
ideal harbor for the portable craft, and the shrub-grown shores give
unlimited opportunity for concealing them when not in use; the dunes
and banks are high enough 'to protect the low jacales from storm-
winds, while the abundant sponges and turtle-shells afford material for
thatching and shingling the more exposed walls and roofs; and finally,
it is but a favorite distance (about 4 miles) to the permanent fresh
water of Tiuaja Anita. From this Seri metropolis well-trod trails
radiate toward all other parts of the island; the best beaten leads to
the tinaja, sending branches into all the neighboring gorges, in which
game is sometimes taken ; next best-worn is the trail laid across Sierra
Kunkaak to strike Arroyo Oarrizal mid-length of its permanently wet
portion; others pass northward to rancherias at different points on
the coast, and still another skirts the coast southward by several
smaller rancherias to the considerable jacal collection near Punta Nar-
ragan sett— this, like other longshore routes, having alternative trails,
the evanescent fair-weather one following the beach, while the perma-
nent path threads the thorn-set thickets marking the crest of the sea-
clifl' or cuts across the longer salients. The Narragansett rancheria is

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. V

WESTERN SHORE OF TIBURON BAY

EASTERN SHORE OF TIBURON BAY

MCGEEJ STORMY SEAS OF SKRILAND 45

also a center for radiating trails, the best-beaten of these leading toward
the fresh waters of Tinaja Anita and Arroyo Carrizal; and even the
rancherias half-way thence to Puuta Mashi^ni send their most peima-
neiit paths over 15 miles of intervening ranges and spall-strewn valleys
toward the same waters. According to Mash^ra's cautious statements,
there is a minor Seri metropolis at the northwestern spur of Sierra
Kunkaak, within reach of Pozo Hardy and Arroyo Agua Dulce, and
two or three smaller rancherias along the western shore; but these were
not reached by the 1895 expedition.

■i. The seas washing Seriland are notably troubled by tides and
winds. Gaping toward the Pacific, and narrowing and shoaling for the
800 miles of its length (measured from midway between Islas de Tres
Marias and Oabo San Lucas), Gulf of California approaches Bay of
Fundy, Bristol channel, and Broad sound as a tide accumulator; while
the semidiurnal sweep of the waters in the upper half of the gulf is
conditioned by the constriction of the basin to a fraction of its average
cross-section at the narrows between Isla Tiburou and Punta San
Francisquito. Toward the head of the gulf the ordinary spring tides
range from 20 to 25 feet, and may be much increased by favoring
winds; the debacles culminate there, but the currents culminate off
Seriland in the great tide-gate half dammed by the islands of Tiburon,
San Esteban, Sail Lorenzo, and Salsipuedes,' with their marine but-
tresses, and through the breaches of Pasaje UUoa, Estrecbo Alar-
con, and Canal de iSalsipuedes flow, four times daily, some two or three
cubic miles of water in tremendous tidal iloods, probably unsurpassed
in vigor elsewhere on the globe. Naturally the islands and the adjacent
coasts afford extraordinary examples of marine transgression; and
while exceptional wave-work is a factor, the transgression is undoubt-
edly due mainly to the extraordinary tidal currents in this gateway of
the gulf. The fierce currents and the frequent storms of the region
condition local navigation, and have undoubtedly contributed to the
development of the peculiarly light, strong, and serviceable water-craft
of the aboriginal navigators among the islands.

El Iliflernillo derives its distinctive characteristics largely from the
local character of the tides. Bahia Kunkaak is a funnel-shape embay-
nient so placed as to catch half the volume of the incoming tide and to

' Originally the name Islas Sal-si-puedes (Get-out-if-canst) was applied to the various islands of this
gateway of the gulf, including San Lorenzo, San Estehan, and San Agustin (now Tiburon), together
with the smaller islets, as shown in the map of Padre Fernando Consag (in Noticia de la California y
de su Conquista, etc., por el Padre Miguel Venegas, 1757, tomo ill, p. 194) ; and Padre Consag's account
of the currents encountered in 1746 explains the designation : "The great sea which runs here even in
fair weather would not allow us to stay, aaid it was with great difficulty we tooli'in a little water. "We
now attempted to weather the Cape of San Gabriel de Sal-si-puedes, so greatly dreaded by seamen on
account of those islands, several oontignous points of land and many ledges of sunken rocks extend-
ing a great way from the land. Here the sea is so agitated by the current that a gale or a calm makes
but little diiference" (English translation of Venegas' Noticia, titled A Natural and Civil History of
California, 1759, vol. ii, pp. 312-313). HittellspeaksOf "the group of islands known as Salsipuedes, the
largest of which is now called Tihuron " (History of California, 1898, vol. i, p. 225) . Dewey restricted
the name to a single small island near the Baja California coast. Further references to the islands
and their designations are noted postea, p. 65.

46 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.anh.17

concentrate the flow into a bore hurtling through Boca Inflerno and
thence throughout the shoaling strait with greatly accelerated velocity;
meantime the body of the tidal stream is diverted around Tiburon,
and then enfeebled in its northward flow by the expansion of the gulf
above the Tiburon-San Prancisquito gateway, so that the entire strait
is flooded (to the limit fixed by the capacity of Boca Inflerno; before the
main tide flows into its head past Isla Patos and through Bahia
Tepopa; and with this unobstructed inflow the strait is reflooded with
a couuterbore, whereby the waters are heaped and pounded into an
unstable, swirling, churning mass.' The flooding is little less than
catastrophic in magnitude and suddenness; indeed, the volume of
water iu the body of the strait between Punta Perla and Boca Infierno

1 UDquestionably the clearest view of El Inflernillo ever enjoyed by Caucasian eyes was that of Messrs
Johnson and Mitchell from the culminating point of Sierra Seri (Johnson peak), which the^oecupied
for about twenty-three hours on December 7 and 8, 1895. Mr Johnson's notes on the appearance of the
strait are as follows ; " On the occasion of the ascent of Sierra Seri, which rises from the coast, shut-
ting off the view of Isla Tiburon from the desert on the east, I received a striking impression of the
elaborate and beautifully symmetrical plan of the long swirling currents of El Infiernillo. The climb
had been made from the east direct to the summit peak, so that the first sight of both island and gulf
was not only from close at hand, but from an elevation of about a mile. The crest of the ridge was
reached at the instant of sunset, and the spectacle of the innumerable current-markings was brief.
Our position was nearly opposite the northern end of the strait ; and its elevation was so great that
the opposite mainland and island shorelines were seen in map effect rather than in perspective. The
entire strait, to its northern end at Punta Perla, was in the shadow of the island; and the current
design was revealed only in the shadow. At the shadow-margin extending from the northern tip of
the island the lines were sharply cut off; and beyond, along the westward bend of waters forming
Bahia Tepopa and opening into the gulf in full sunlight, there was no suggestion of them. "Within
the shadow the eii'ect was that of a film of oil on a water-surface which had been stirred and allowed
to come to rest— though the regularity of the lines was as though the stirring had been orderly. Not
the slightest motion was perceptible from the peak during the minute or two that the spectacle
lasted before the sun disappeared and twilight fell, though the suggestion from configuration alone
was that of violent swirling. The general movement was evidently southward toward Boca Infierno,
and the swirls were apparently the result of f rictional resistance along both shores ; the system of
curving lines as a whole was very much that which would he presented by a broad feather thrust into
a bottle. There were central lines in great number, somewhat sinuous though never crossing, diverg-
ing one by one toward the shores on either hand, where they curved backward with complex interfer-
ences in large reversing arcs and many minute circlings. The straightening out of the curves in
perspeciive was quite perceptible toward Boca Infierno, and beyond it was pronounced. The air
appeared to be still, so that the current, pattern was not at all obscured by waves ; and the spectacle
of the broad strait, appearing almost beneath me, incised with a crowded design of sweeping fine
lines, the delicate clearness of which recalled a steel engraving, was peculiarly impressive. That we
had been fortunate in the moment of reaching the summit was apparent next day. The spectacle was,
indeed, repeated at sunrise and for a short period thereafter, though the general design was markedly
different, and less intricacy of pattern was discernible, while the general effect was comparatively
vague; perhaps the shadow of Sierra Seri was too heavy, or, more probably (as was my impression at
the time), our position was not favorable for that direction of illumination. In full light during the
day up to the hour of our departure in late afternoon, no bin t or vestige of the c arrent design remained.
It was evident that the lines were brought out with especial clearness by the favorable illumination and
comparative stillness of air; and it was particularly evident that the lines marked movements in the
water, even if there were corresponding air-currents, since they harmonized perfectly with the con-
figuration of the shores and with the trend of spits and bars and offshore markings seen through the
shallow waters, especially toward the northern end of the strait. The accord between shore curves
and the current lines seen in the evening indicated a southward motion much more vigorous than the
reverse movement witnessed next morning ; for the marked variation in the design noted in the morn-
ing was of a character strongly suggesting a reversed movement of the water, while the faintness of
the markings then may perhaps have been due to comparative feebleness of current rather than to
unfavorable lighting. Certainly the close agreement between the elaborate system of markings, so
clearly revealed in the evening, and the prevailing curves of the shores would seem to indicate unmis-
takably that, whatever the direction and strength of flow, the markings were a product of current
motion."

MCGKE] TIDES AND CURRENTS 47

is approximately doubled at neap tide and tripled at spring tide twice
in each twenty four hours. Then, as the crest of the main debacle
advances into the u])per gulf beyond Punta Tepopa, the trough of the
ebb is already approaching the Tiburon-San Francisquito constriction ;
and even before the final flooding of El Inflernillo from the north is
completed, the waters of Bahia Kunkaak are receding and a tiderip is
tearing through Boca Inflerno at a rate sufflcient to half empty the
reservoir of its accumulated volume before the ebb trough has rounded
the island to the head of the strait. Thus the effect of the exceptional
tides of the gulf and the peculiar configuration of Seriland is to concen-
trate and accentuate tidal currents in El Infiernillo, and to convert the
channel into a raceway for nearly continuous tide rips. According
to Dewey, the spring tides are 10 feet and the neaps 7 feet about the
northern end of the strait;' in December, 1895, the tides about Punta
Blanca and Punta Granita were roughly determined as 13 or 14 feet at
spring and 7 or 8 at neap, the range varying considerably with the
direction and force of the wind; and the consequent current through
Boca Inflerno was estimated at 4 to 8 miles per hour, the higher velocity
of course coinciding with the spring tide. The change in direction of
the current is almost instantaneous — indeed, the run is in opposite
directions on opposite sides of the narrow strait when the wind sets
obliquely — so that the tidal flow is practically continuous. The cur-
rents are of course slacker in the body of the strait, but even here sufiflce
to transport coarse sediments ; and it is to this agency that the " shoals
and sand spits" noted by Dewey ^ and the maintenance of a deep
channel through Boca Inflerno are chiefly to be ascribed. The mate-
rials of Punta Tormenta and Punta Tortuga attest the transportation
of pebbles up to 3 or 4 inches in diameter by the combined work of
waves and tidal currents.

Like other mountain bound water bodies, the portion of the gulf
washing Seriland is exceptionally disturbed by winds of given velocity
by reason of the high angle of incidence; and moreover the exception-
ally prominent local configuration disturbs the atmospheric currents in
a manner somewhat analogous to that in which the tidal currents are
disturbed; so that the winds are highly variable but generally strong.
Under the combined action of tide and wind the waters are normally
rufBed; choppy seas freely flecked with whitecaps are rather the rule
than the exception,' and are replaced less frequently by calms than by
steadier billows breaking in continuous surf on sand-beaches (figure 5)
and dashing into foam-flecked and rainbow-tinted spray-jets, bathing
the rocky cliffs for 50 feet above their bases. Sometimes the wind stills
suddenly, when the sea sinks to rythmic swells, soon extinguished by
reaction from the irregular shores and by the interference of tide-cur-
rents; but the swell seldom dies away before the gale springs again.

'Publication No. 56, U. S. Hydrograpbic Office, Bureau of Navigation, 1880, p. 142.

=0p. oit., p. 143.

^ A stiller and navigable condition of tbe sea is sbown in tbe view of Punta Ygnacio, plate iv.

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANX. 17

The broad valley between Sierras Seri and Kunkaak, bottomed by El
lufiernillo, is especially beset by fierce and capricious gales; the gen-
eral atmospheric drift is disturbed by the leading and lesser sierras, as
well as by temperature convection from the gulf, and eddies are devel-
oped in such wise as to send air-currents directly or obliquely up or down
the valley. These local or sublocal winds are characteristic. Judg-
ing from observations covering several weeks, the valley is wind-swept
longitudinally for an average of eighteen or twenty hours daily, the
winds ranging from strong breezes to gales so stiff as to load the air
with sand ashore and spray asea; and even the calms may be broken

Fia. 5_Embarking on Bahia Kunkaak in la lancha Anita.

any minute by sudden gusts and williwaws, passing rapidly as they
arrive. Not only waves but wind itself combines with tides to shape the
structural features of the valley; nowhere within it do flour- flue sands
like those of Desierto Bncinas occur, save as a hardly perceptible con-
stituent of the dunes and banks of coarser sand— they have been blown
into the sea or beyond the limits of the valley. Throughout the strait
so expressively named by its explorers, the capriciousuess of the sea
culminates, despite the shoalness and the protection from easterly and
westerly winds; the storm currents and tide-currents are half the time
opposed, raising breakers even when the air is nearly still ; eddies and
whirls and cross-currents arise constantly, and even at the stillest

McoEE] THE LESSEE ISLANDS 49

hours tumultuous waves come and go sporadically, while about the mile-
wide boca the choppy sea sometimes takes the form of spire-like jets,
spurting 5 or 10 feet high and breaking into aigrettes of glittering
spray in most unwaterlike and wholly indescribable fashion. Dewey
described the strait as "unsafe for navigation by any except the small-
est class of vessels"; it is safe, indeed, only for portable and inde-
structible craft like the Seri balsas, which may be put off or carried
ashore at will by craftsmen willing to wait for wind and tide, and unpos-
sessed of impedimenta of a sort to be injured by wetting. Of such an
environment the balsa is a natural product.

The adjunct islets of Seriland are miniatures of Tiburon in all essen-
tial respects, save that they are without fresh water. The largest is
San Esteban, a somewhat complex butte rising sharply from the waters
in a nearly continuous sea-cliff recording vigorous work by storms
and tides; it is occasionally visited by the Seri, chiefly in search of
water-fowl and eggs. The most important of the series in Seri
economy and mythology is Isla Tassne, off the mouth of Bahia
Kino; it is a rugged butte some 600 feet high, rising in wave-cut
cliffs on the sea side and pedimented by low spits and banks of sand
toward the lea; the sand-banks are literally flocked with pelicans,
while other fowl cover the flatter ledges and crowd the crannies of the
pinnacle. Isla Turner is a somewhat smaller and still more rugged
butte, bounded on both sides by precipitous cliffs, while Koca Poca is
merely a great rock shelving upward from the storm-swept waters off
the most exposed angle of Tiburon; in the crannies of the former
birds nest abundantly, while the lower ledges of both are haunted by
seals. Isla Patos, north of Tiburon, is a breeding-place for different
water-fowl, and is especially noted as a refuge for ducks ; it, too, is for
the most part a rocky butte, with a sandy shelf at the eastern base.
Beyond San Esteban lies the similar but smaller Isla San Lorenzo,
while Isla Salsipuedes and a few other islets stretch thence northward
half way to the southern point of Isla Angel de la Guarda, the second-
largest island of the gulf. San Lorenzo and the smaller islets are
occasionally visited by the Seri, partly for a mineral pigment used in
face-painting, partly in quest of game; and they sometimes push on to
the larger island to enjoy its fairly abundant game, including the
easily taken iguana, amid the ruins of an ancient culture apparently
akin to that of southern Mexico. Even the most frequented islets,
Tassne and Patos, can be reached only by crossing miles of open sea;
but in their way the Seri are as canny navigators as they are skilful
boat-builders — it is their habit to hug the shore in threatening weather,
to await wind and tide for hours or days together, to set out on
distant journeys only when all conditions favor, and in emergency to
seize inspiration from the storm like the vikings of old, and bend
supernormal power to the control of their craft.

Summarily, the prevailing features of Seriland may be said to be
17 ETH 4

50 THE SERI INDIANS [ETH.ANif.l7

characterized by extreme development or intensity, many of them being
of such sort as to be adequately described only by the aid of strong
comparatives or superlatives. Seriland is the most rugged portion of
piedmont Souora, and is bounded by its most tbrbidding desert; the ter-
ritory is nearly if not quite the most arid and inhospitable of the Sonoran
province; the diurnal and sporadic temperature-ranges are apparently
the widest, and the gales and other storms apparently the severest of
the entire province; tlie flora is among the most meager and least fruit-
ful, and the mountains are among the craggiest of the continent; the
tides are among the strongest and the tidal currents among the swiftest
of the world ; and, as shown by the limited direct observations and by
the extraordinary marine transgression, the waters are among the most
turbulent known. At the same time, the waters washing Seriland are
among the richest of America in sea-food, so that the habitat is one of
the easiest known for a simple life depending directly on the product of
the sea. It is but natural that these extreme factors of environment
should be measurably reflected in pronounced characteristics on the
part of the inhabitants.

SUMMARY HISTORY

There is some doubt as to who was the first among the Caucasian
explorers of the Western Hemisphere to set eyes on the Seri Indians.
Nunc de Guzman, rival of Cort6s and invader of Jalisco and Sinaloa,
must have appoached the southern boundary of Seri territory about
1530, though there is no record of contact with these tribesmen. Diego
Hurtado de Mendoza, one of Cortes' captains, coasted along southern
Sonora in 1532 to a point considerably beyond Rio Yaqui, where he was
massacred on his return, and hence left no record of more northerly
natives.^ Both of these pioneers must accordingly be eliminated from
the list of probable discoverers of the Seri.

In the course of their marvelous transcontinental journey, Alvar
Nunez Oabeza de Vaca and his companions also approached Seriland,
and apparently skirted its borders shortly before meeting Captain
Diego de Alcaraz, of Guzman's party; this was in April, 1536, accord-
ing to Baridelier.^ Vaca wrote : " On the coast is no maize : the inhab-
itants eat the powder of rush and of straw, and fish that is caught in
the sea from rafts, not having canoes. With grass and straw the
women cover their nudity. They are a timid and dejected people."'
He added half a dozen ambiguous sentences, of which only a part,
apparently, refer to the "timid and dejected people"; half of these
describe a poison used by them " so deadly that if the leaves be bruised
and steeped in some neighboring water, the deer and other animals
drinking it soon burst". The people were identified as Seri (Ceris) by
Buckingham Smith and General Stone,* and the identification may be
considered as strongly probable, provided the Tepoka be classed with
the Seri.

The next Caucasians to approach Seriland appear to have been the
two Spanish monks, Fray Pedro Nadal and Pray Juan de la Asuncion,
who, in 1538, sought to retrace Vaca's route, and traveled northward
to a river somewhat doubtfully identified as the Gila ; ^ but the meager
accounts of this journey contain no clear reference to the Seri Indians.

On March 7-19, 1539, the Italian friar Marcos de Niza left San
Miguel de Culiacan under instructions from the Viceroy, Don Antonio

> Theodore H. Hittell, History of California, 1898, vol. I, pp. 43-44.

' Contributions to the History of the Southwestern Portion of the United States (Homenway South-
western ArchEBological Expedition) , Papers of the ArcbcBological Institute of America, American
series, v, 1890, p. 44.

^Belation of Alvar Nuiiez Cabeja do Vaca, translated from the Spanish by Buckingham Smith ; New
York, 1871, p. 172.

«Ibid, p. 178.

» Uf. Bandelier, Magazine of Western History, IV, 1886, p. 660.

52 THE SERI INDIAN [eth.ann.17

de Mendoza, to explore the territory traversed by Vaca, under the
guidance of the negro Estevanico, the only one of Vaca's three com-
panions remaining in Mexico; in good time he reached a point prob-
ably not far from the center of the present state of Sonora, whence
messengers were sent coastward to return duly accompanied by certain
"very poor" Indians wearing pearl-oyster (?) ornaments, who were
reputed to inhabit a large island (almost certainly Tiburon) reached from
the mainland by means of balsas. Bandelier identified these coastwise
Indians with the Guayma tribe, a supposed branch of the Seri ; ' but
if the "large island" were Tiburon, It would seem more probable that
the Indians belonged to the tribe now known as Seri, while both descrip-
tion and location suggest the Tepoka. This record is of questionable
weight, partly by reason of the doubtful identification of the Indians,
and ])artly because the friar's itinerary was found to be misleajjing by
his immediate successors, because of the fact that portions of his nar-
rative were based on hearsay; though it is just to note that Bandelier,
after critical study, deemed the record about as trustworthy as others
of the time, and to add that the disparagement of Niza's discoveries
by his followers was iu accord with the fashion of the day — indeed it
was little more severe relatively than the criticism of the strikingly
trustworthy Ulloa by his first follower, Alarcon.

On July 8-19, 1539, according to the collection of Eamusio, three
vessels sent out by Oort6s to discover unknown lands — "Of Which
Fleete was Captaine the right worshipful! knight Francis de VUoa
borne in the Oitie of Merida"— sailed from Acapulco,^ Skirting the
mainland northwestward, they explored Mar de Cort6s, or Gulf of
California; and on September 24 (as fixed by interpolation from UUoa's
excellent itinerary) they descried and described the features of the coast
in such fashion as to locate their vessels (one was already lost) off the
southern point of Tiburon, and in sight of the islands of San Bsteban
and San Lorenzo, as well as locally prominent points on the mainland
of Lower California. Here they "discerned the countrey to be plaine,
and certaine mountaines, and it seemed that a certaine gut of water
like a brooke ran through the plaine " (p. 322). Judging from other
geographic details, this "gut of water" was certainly the tide-torn,
gateway now named Boca Infierno; while the next day's sailing (it is
noteworthy that this was "north" instead of northwestward as usual)
carried them by "a circuit or bay of 6 leagues into the land with many
cooues or creeks", evidently Bahia Tepopa with the northern end of
the turbulent strait El Infiernillo. The record shows clearly that Ulloa
discovered Tiburon, but failed (quite naturally, in view of the route
pursued and the peculiar configuration at both extremities of the strait)
to perceive its insular character. No mention is made of inhabitants
or habitations on this land-mass, th ough both are described on the

' Ibid, pp. 661-663; Papers of the Arohioologioal Institute of America, American series v p 118
»The Voyages of the English Nation t« America, collected by Biohard Hakluyt and edited bv
Edmund Goldsmid, 1890, vol. UI, p. 317. ''

MCQEE] EARLIEST EXPLORATIONS — 1540 53

neighboring island of Angel de la Guarda in terms that would be
applicable to the Seri.

On Monday, February 23, 1540, according to Winship,' Captain-
General Francisco Vazquez Coronado set out on his ambitious and
memorable expedition to the Seven Cities of Cibola. His course lay
from Compostela along the coast of Culiacan, and thence northward
through what is now Sinaloa and Sonora. On May 9-20, 1540, Her-
nando de Alarcon set sail on the ancillary expedition by sea; he fol-
lowed the coast from Acapulco to Colorado river, and although he
undoubtedly saw and was the first to name Tiburon,* and claimed to
have " discouered other very good haueus for the ships whereof Captaine
Francis de VIlua was General, for the Marquesse de Valle neither sawe
nor found them",' he made no specific record of any of the features of
Seriland or of contact with the Seri Indians. Meantime Coronado's
forces were divided, a considerable part of the army falling behind the
leader; and some time during the early summer the belated army, under
Don Tristan de Arellano, founded the town of San Hierouimo de los
Oorazones, which in the following year (1541) was transferred to a place
in Senora (Sonora) not now identifiable. From Corazones Don Eodrigo
Maldonado went down to the seacoast to seek the ships, and brought
back with him " an Indian so large and tall that the best man in the
army reached only to his chest", with reports of still taller Indians
along the coast.^ It is impossible to locate Maldonado's route with close
accuracy, but in view of geographic and other conditions it is evident
(as recently shown by Hodge^) that he must have descended Rio Sonora
and approached or reached the coast over the broad delta-plain of that
stream south of Sierra Seri, and thus within Seri territory. The re-
ported gigantic stature practically identifies the Indians visited by him
with the Seri, since no other gigantic tribes were consistently reported
by explorers of western North America, and since the 6-foot Seri
warriors, with their frequent Sauls of greater stature, are in fact gigan-
tic in comparison with the average Spanish soldiery of earlier centuries.
There are indications that the fame of these giants of the Southern
sea spread to Europe and filtered slowly throughout the intellectual
world, and that the fancy-clothed colossi grew with their travels, after
the manner of their kind — indeed, there is no slender reason for opining
that these half-mythical islanders were the real originals of Jonathan
Swift's Brobdingnagians," despite his location of their fabled land a

1 The Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542, Fourteenth Annual Beport of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1896,
p. 382.

2 As a harbor or anchorage marked "del Tiburon" on the map of "Domingo del Castillo, Piloto",
drawn in 1541, and reproduced in Historia de Nueva-Eapana, escrita por su esclarecido Conquistador
Eerniln Cortes, anmentada con otras documentos, y notas, por el ilustrissimo Senor Don Francisco
Antonio Lorenzana, Arzobispo de Mexico; Mexico, 1770, p, 328.

3 The Voyages of the English Nation to America, vol. iv, p. 6.
*Winship, op. cit., p. 484.

5 Coronado's March to Quivira, in J. V. Brower, Harahey (Memoirs of Explorations in the Basin
of the Mississippi, vol. ii), 1899, p. 36.

••Cf. The History of Oregon, California, and the other Territories on the Northwest Coast of North
America, by Robert Greenhow, 1845, p. 97 ; History of California, by Theodore H. Kittell, 1898, vol. i,
p. 149.

54 THE SERI INDIANS [bth,ann.17

few degrees farther northward on the long-mysterious coast below
the elusive " Straits of Anian ".

About the middle of September, 1540, Captain Melchior Diaz, then
in command at Corazdnes, selected 25 men from the force remain-
ing at that point, and set out for the coast on what must have been
one of the most remarkable, as it is one of the least-known, expe-
ditions in the history of Spanish exploration; for he traversed either
the streamless coast or the hardly more hospitable interior through
one of the most utterly desert regions in North America, from the lower
reaches of Eio Sonora to the mouth of the Colorado. The record of
this journey is meager, ambiguous, and apparently inconsecutive; it
indicates that he encountered the Indian giants seen by Maldonado,
but confused them with the Indians of the Lower Colorado. On the
return journey Diaz lost his life through an accident, and his party
reached Oorazones on January 18, 1541, after encountering ht)stility
from Indians not far from that settlement. Word was sent to Coro-
nado, then in winter quarters on the Eio Grande, who dispatched Don
Pedro de Tovar to the settlement for the purpose of punishing the
hostile natives; he, in turn, sent Diego de Alcaraz with a force to seize
the "chiefs and lords of a village". This Alcaraz did, but soon
liberated his prisoners for a petty exchange. "Finding themselves
free, they renewed the war and attacked them, and as they were strong
and had poison, they killed several Spaniards and wounded others so
that they died on the way back. . . . They got back to the town,
leaving 17 soldiers dead from the poison. They would die in agony
from only a small wound, the bodies breaking out with an insupportable
pestilential stink." '■

The Coronado expedition had still farther experience with (evidently)
the same Indians; for as the army approached Corazones on the return
a soldier was wounded, and was successfully treated, according to the
record, with the j nice of the quince. "The poison, however, had left its
mark upon him. The skin rotted and fell off until it left the bones and
sinews bare, with a horrible smell. The wound was in the wrist, and
the poison had reached as far as the shoulder when he was cured. The
skin on all this fell off."^

There is some question as to the identity of the Indians met by Diaz's
men, Alcaraz and his force, and the Coronado army near Oorazones;
but various indications point toward the Seri. In the first place, the
several Indian settlements mentioned in the records define what must
have been then, as it was two centuries later, the Seri frontier, beyond
which lay the "despoblado" of Villa-Senor, i. e., the immense area
hunted and harried by roving bands from Tiburon ; so that the Seri
must frequently have crossed the paths pursued by the Spanish pio-
neers. In the second place, the accounts themselves seem to be typical
records of contact with Seri Indians, which might be repeated for each

' Winahip, op. oit., p. 602. ' Ibid., p. 538.

MCGEE] THE felLENT SESQUICENTURY — 154,5-1695 55

subsequent episode in tbeir history or century in time. The descrip-
tion of the effect of the poison is especially suggestive of the Seri; as
pointed out on a later page, the Seri arrow- venom is magical in motive,
but actually consists of decomposing and ptomaine-flUed organic mat-
ter, so that it is sometimes septic in fact, while the arrow-poison of the
neighboring Opata, Jova, and other Piman tribes was (so far as can be
ascertained) vegetal; and these accounts seem to attest septic poison-
ing rather than the effects of any known vegetal toxic.^

Such (assuming the validity of the several identifications) are the
earliest records concerning the truculent tribesmen and the desolate
district known centuries later as the Seri and Seriland.

About 1545 began the Dark Ages in the history of northwestern
Mexico; the excursion of Guzman, and the journeys of Gabeza de Vaca
and Friar Marcos and of Coronado himself, died out of the memory of
the solitary adventurers and scattering settlers who slowly infused
Spanish culture and a strain of Caucasian blood into the Sonoran
province; even the route taken by Coronado's imposing cavalcade was
lost for ceuturies, to be retraced only during the present generation,
largely through the determinations of Simpson, Bandelier, Winship,
and Hodge.^ It is true that Don Francisco de Ibarra penetrated the
territory in 1563, and remained until rumors of gold in other districts
drew him elsewhere; it is also true that Captain Diego Martinez de
Hurdaide pushed into the province in 1584, and entered, on a career
of subjugation, waging persistent war with the Yaqui, which resulted in
the acquisition of the territory of Sonora by treaty April 15, 1610;' yet
few records of exploration or settlement were written before the advent
of the Jesuit missionaries, toward the end of the seventeenth century.

Still more astounding was the eclipse of knowledge of the gulf.
Despite Ulloa's survey of the entire coast, recorded in an itinerary so
detailed that every day's sailing may readily be retraced, and despite
Alarcon's repetition of the surveys and extension of the discoveries far
up Eio Colorado (where his work was verified by that of Melchior Diaz),
a mythic cartography arose to shadow knowledge and delude explora-
tion for a century and a half; for " upon the authority of a Spanish
chart, found accidently by the Dutch, and of the authenticity of which
there never were, or indeed could be, any proofs obtained, an opinion
prevailed that California was an island, and the contrary assertion
was treated even by the ablest geographers as a vulgar error"; * and a
mythic strait formed by cartographic extension of the Gulf of California
indefinitely northward haunted the maps of the seventeenth century.
This error was adopted by various geographers, including Fredericus

*It should be noted that Mr. F. W. Hodge, whose large acquaintance with the Southwest and its
literature gives his opinion great weight, is inclined to class the Indians in question as Opata.

2 Op. cit., pp. 29-73.

' Sonora HistOrico y DescriptiTO, por P. T. DAvila, 1894, p. 8.

■■A Natural and Civil History of California; translated from the original Spanish of Miguel
Venegaa ; London, 1759, vol. i, preface.

56 THE SERI INDIANS [eth. akn.17

de Witt in 1662, Peter van der Aa in 1690, and even Herman Moll so
late as 1708; but it was consistently rejected by Guillaume Delisle and
other French geographers. The myth was finally punctured by Padre
Kino in 1701; though even he and all his erudite co-evangels were
apparently unaware that his observations only verified those of Ulloa,
Alarcon, and Diaz.

During the stagnant sesquicentury 1545-1695 there was little record
of the Seri Indians, though that little indicates recognition of their
leading characteristics and their insular habitat. Writing especially
of the Taqui before 1645, Padre Andres Perez de Eibas declared
(freely translated) :

There is information of a great people of another nation called Herts ; they are
excessively savage, without towns, without houses, without fields. They have
neither rivers nor streams, and drink from a few lagoonlets and waterholes. They
subsist by the chase, but at harvest time they obtain corn by bartering salt extracted
from the sea and deerskins with other nations. Those nearest to the sea also subsist
on fish ; and it is said that there is, in the same sea, an island on which others of
the same nation live. Their language is exceedingly difficult.'

The same author mentions cannibalism among the aborigines of
northwestern Mexico, saying:

The vice of those called anthropophagi, who eat human flesh, introduced by the
devil, enemy of the human genus, among nearly all these nations during their
heathenism, is more or less common. In the Acaxee and mountains this inhuman
vice is customary as eating of flesh obtained by the chase ; it is of daily occurrence
among them; just as they sally in chase of a deer, they go out over mountains and
fields in search of enemies to cut in pieces and eat roasted or boiled.''

There is nothing to indicate that the anthropophagy was confined
to, or even extended to, the Seri — a fact of interest in connection with
later opinion. Eibas' reference to an island inhabited by the Heris
(Seri) indicates that the occupancy of Tiburon was fully recognized by
the native tribes of the region.

Throughout the seventeenth century the western coast of Gulf of Cali-
fornia, and in lesser degree the eastern coast also, became famous for
pearl oysters, and expeditions were sent out and fisheries established
at different times. The earliest of these expeditions was that of Cap-
tain Juan Iturbi in 1615 ; he sailed well up the gulf, reaching latitude 30°
according to his reckoning (though the accounts imply between lines
that he turned back at the Salsipuedes), collecting many pearls along
the western coast " so large and clear that for one only he paid, as
the King's fifth, 900 crowns";' and on his return he carried the fame of
the Californian pearls to Ciudad Mexico, whence it resounded to Madrid
and reverberated through all Europe. One of the more noteworthy

' Historia de los Trivmphos de Nrestra Santa Fee entre Gentes las mas Barbaras y Fieras del Nueuo
Orbe ; Madrid, 1645, p. 358. The " Heris " are identified as Seri by Bandolier (Final Report of Investi-
gations among the Indians of the Southwestern United States, in Papers Arch, Inst. Am., American
series, III, 1890, p. 74).

2 0p.cit.,p.ll.

3 Venegas, op. cit., vol. i, p, 182.

MCQEE] SECOND EXPLORATORY PERIOD 57

pearl-gathering expeditions was that of Admiral Pedro Portel de Cas-
sanate, which covered several years; he "took a very careful survey
of the eastern coast of the gulf" in 1648, but was deterred from estab-
lishing a garrison by "the dryness and sterility of the country";' yet
neither this voyage nor any of the others appears to have resulted in
any considerable rectification of the maps, or in valuable records relat-
ing to the aboriginal inhabitants. Various records indicate, however,
that both pearl fishers by sea and gold seekers by land must have met the
warlike Seri — and sometimes survived to enrich the growing lore con-
cerning the tribe, and to establish the existence of their island stronghold.

New light dawned on Sonoran history with the extension of evangeli-
zation by the Order of Jesuits into that territory under the pilotage
of Padre Busebio Francisco Kino (Kaino, Knino, Kiihn, Kuhue, Quino,
Ohino, etc.) , who sailed from Ghacala, March 18, 1683, ^ for California, with
the expedition of Admiral Isidro Otondo y Antillon. This expedition '
failing, the padre returned to the mainland in 1686, and during the
same year obtained authority and means for establishing missions in
Sonora, of which one was to be "founded among the Seris of the gulf
coast ".' Although the record of the padre's movements is hardly com-
plete, it would appear that several years elapsed before he actually
approached, and also (contrary to the opinion of two centuries) that he
never saw, the real Seri habitat. According to the anonymous author of
"Apostolicos Afanes" (identified by modern historians as Padre Jos6
Ortega), Padre Kino made many journeys over the inhospitable wastes
now known as Papagueria during the years 1686-1701,^ and must have
seen nearly the whole of the northern and eastern portions of the ter-
ritory ; but only a single journey led him toward Seriland. In February,
1694, he, with Padre Marcos Antonio Kappus, Ensign Juan Mateo
Mange (chronicler of this expedition), and Captain Aguerra, set out for
the coast; and Mange's itinerary is so circumstantial as to locate their
route and every stopping place, with a possible error not exceeding 5
miles in any case.

According to Mange's itinerary, the explorers left Santa Magdalena
de Buquibava, on the banks of Eio San Ignacio or Santa Magdalena,
February 9, traveling northwestward down the valley of that river
(for the most part) 12 leagues to San Miguel del Bosna; the original
party having been enlarged at Santa Magdalena by the addition of
Nicolas Oastrijo and Antonio Mezquita, with two Indians for guides.
On February 10 they traveled from Bosna 5 leagues southward (evi-
dently in the valley of Eio San Ignacio, which is here 5 to 25 miles in
width), to sleep at the watering place of Oacue, or San Bartolome. The

1 Venegas, A Natural and Civil History of California, vol. i, p. 192.

2 Venegas, Noticia de la California, vul. I ; Madrid, 1757, p. 219.

s The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. xv (History of the North Mexican States, vol. J, 1531-
1800), 1884, p. 252.

■•Apostolicos Afanes de la Compania de Jesus, esorltos por un Padre de la misma Sagrada Beligion
de su Proviucia de Mexico; Barcelona, 1754, p. 246 et seq.

58 THE SERI INDIANS [eth. ann. 17

next day they journeyed westward along the wash (of San Ignacio),
stopping, as was their custom, to baptize the sick and others, and after
covering 10 leagues camped at a tanque. On February 12 they con-
tinued westward over mesquite-covered plains for 4 leagues, and then
turned northwestward for 3 leagues along the San Ignacio to Caborca,
where they spent the remainder of the day in evangelical work. Next
morning, after saying mass, they again proceeded westward "por la
vega del rio abajo" (down the bank of the river); at 2 leagues distance
they arrived at the place at which the river " sinks", but continued west^
ward along the sand-wash 5 leagues farther, passing the night at a
tanque of turbid water. On February 14 they again celebrated mass,
and then proceeded westward over the plains ("prosiguiendo nosotros
al Poniente por llanos"); at 4 leagues they reached a rancheria which
was dubbed San Valentin (still persisting as a Papago temporale; the
"Bisanig" of various maps), watered from a well in the river bed; pro-
ceeding westward ("prosiguiendo al Poniente") 6 leagues farther, they
ascended a sierra trending from south to north ("trasmontada una
sierra que sita de Sur 4 Norte") of which they named the principal
peak Nazareiio, in a dry and sterile barranca in which they afterward
slept; from this sierra they saw "the Gulf of California, and, on the
farther coast, four mountains of that territory, which we named Los
Cuatro Stos. Evangelistas, and toward the northwest an islet with three
cerritos named Las Tres Marias, and in the southwest the Isla de Seris,
to which they retreat when pursued by soldiers for their robberies,
which we call San A gustin and others Tiburon." ' The record continues :

On the fifteenth, after saying mass, we continued our route to the west by a dry
and stony ravine which there is between the mountains, and at 3 leagues we met
some Indians taking water from a small well in earthen jars, who, on seeing us,
ran away, flying from fear; but at two musket shots we overtook them, treated
them kindly, and brought them back to the well that they might assist in watering
the horses, giving them all the water necessary, for the reason that they had not
drunk the day before. For this reason we called this place Paraje de las Ollas.
They were naked people, and only covered their private parts with small pieces of
hare skin; and one of them was so aged that by his looks he must have been about
120 years old. We continued to the west over barren plains, arid and without pas-
ture, a country as sandy as a sea-beach, until we reached the sand-banks, where the
horses had great difficulty ; and after another 7 leagues Father Kappus and the other
people camped without water, aud with only pasture of salt grass; but Padre Kino
and I [Mange], with guides, and the governor of Los Dolores [Aguerra], in order to
be forehanded, went west 2 leagues farther, crossiiug the bed of Rio San Ignacio;
we arrived at the banks of an arm of the sea to which, in the sixty years that the
province of Sonora had been peopled, no one had come, and we were the first who
had the great privilege of seeing the Island of the Seris and that of Tres Marias, as
well as tho mountains of Cuatro Evangelistas, in California, on the other side of the
gulf, the width of which, according to the measuring instruments at this position
of 30° [actually about 30° 35'], is some 20 leagues. We returned to the bed of the
river [San Ignacio], where we found a well nearly, dry; we drew from it water
for the horses, who had had nothing to drink, and took some ourselves, although
it was turbid, muddy, and disagreeable.

1 Translated somewhat freely from Eesumen de Koticias, in Documentos para la Historia de Mexico,
ciiarta s6rie, tomo i, 1856, pp. 235-236.

McoEE] kino's famous ENTRADA — 1694 59

Now, this itinerary recoants, in definite and unmistakable terras, the
incidents and localities of a journey down the valley of Rio San Iguacio
(also called Santa Magdalena, Altar, Ascuncion, Pitiquito, Caborca,
etc, in different parts of its course), from the present city of Santa
Magdalena by the present town of Caborca to the coast at a point almost
directly west of both Caborca and Santa Magdalena. Moreover, Kino's
map of 1702 ' locates " Nazareno " on this river, and permits identifica-
tion of the sierra with Dewey's " three conspicuous peaks" placeil
directly inland from the lagoon at the mouth of San Ignacio river, on
the Hydrographic Office charts; it also locates Caborca (miswritten
"Oabetka") in approximate position. Furthermore, it would have been
physically impo^^sible for the rather heavily outfitted Kino party, with
carriages and churchly equipage, to traverse the untrodden and forbid-
ding wastes from Caborca to even the nearest part of Seriland within
the period of two days and a fraction, and the distance of 29 leagues
(some 74 miles), detailed in the itinerary. The direct way from Caborca
to Tiburon would lie due southward, over sierra- ribbed and barranca-cut
plains never yet explored by white men, nor even traversed by Indians
so far as known, for more than 100 miles in an air line; while the nearest
practicable route, passing by way of Cieneguilla, Las Cruces, Pozo
Noriega, Bacuachito, Sayula, Tonuco, Eancho Libertad, and Barranca
Salina (or Aguaje Parilla) measures fully 200 miles, and requires at
least six days for the passage with good horses and light equipage.
The Kino party might, indeed, have turned southwestward at Caborca
and pushed to the now abandoned landing at the anchorage below Cabo
Lobos;'' but the directions and distances specifically stated, and the
specific identification of Kio San Ignacio at the end and at other points
of the journey, all prove that this was not the route actually traveled.
The terminus of the trip so clearly flxed by the itinerary is over 100
miles from the nearest point of Seriland proijer; moreover, Tiburon is
rendered invisible both from the coast and from Cerro Nazareno not
only by distance, but by intervening sierras, notably those projecting
into the Gulf to form Cabo Lobos and Punta Tepopa. It follows that
Kino and Mange completely missed Seriland in their expedition to the
coast, and there is nothing to indicate that they ever saw the Seri
tribesmen. 'J'heir descriptions of the Indians encountered fairly fit
the peaceful Papago of the interior and the timid Tepoka of the coast;
and neither Mange's narrative nor other contemporary records suggest
contact between the exploring party and the distinctive holders of Tibu-
ron. The specific and repeated references in the itinerary to the island of
San Agustin, or Tiburon, evidently relate to the ancient Isla de Santa

' Tabula Califomise, anno 1702 {Via terrestris in Californiam comperta et detecta per E. Patrem
Eneebium Fran. Chino d S. I. Geiinanum. Adnotatis novis MisRionibus ejuadem Soctis ab anno 1698
ad annum 1701), in Stoctlein, Der Neue Welt-Bott, Augapurg und Gratz, 1726.

2 Elaborately mapped and established (on paper) as the " Puerto y Villa de la Libertad" in 1861
. (Boletin de la Socledad Mexicana de Geografia y Estadistica, 1863, x, p. 263 et seq.), and actually
maintained from 187*5 to 1884 as the port ui' Libertad (not the abandoned Rancho Libertad on the
border of Seriland), or Serna, according to D^vila (Sonera HistArico y Descriptive, pp. 140, 309).

go THE SERI INDIANS [bth.ann.17

Inez, the modern Isla Angel de la Guarda,' one of the most prominent
geographic features visible either from Gerro Nazareuo or from the adja-
cent coast. There is no reason to infer that Kino or any of his party ever
detected their error in identification of geographic features which must
have been conspicuous in the lore of the aborigines and settlers of
Sonora; indeed, the error well attests the prominence of the Seri and
their habitat in the local thought of the time.^

An effect of the Jesuit invasion was to give record to episodes grow-
ing out of alien contact with the Seri. One of the earliest of these
records recounts nocturnal raids by the "Seris Salineros" for robbery
and murder in the pueblos of Tuape, Gucurpe, and Magdalena (de
Tepoca).' In January, 1700, Sergeant Juan .Bautista de Escalante
set out with fifteen soldiers to this mission of Santa Magdalena de
Tepoca on an expedition of protection and reprisal; and here he.learned
that the " Seris Salineros " had killed with arrows three persons. Taking
their trail, he reached ISTuestra Seiiora del Populo only to find that ten
families of converts had deserted to steal cattle, whereupon he started
in search of them; he overtook them 20 leagues away, and, despite
armed resistance on their part, arrested and whipped them and returned
them to the pueblo. Among the captives were two "Seris Salineros"
concerned in the murders at Tepoca, and three others guilty of similar
outrages at the Pueblo de los Angeles de Pimas Gocomacagiies; these
he executed as a warning to the others, after taking their depositions
and confessions, and after they were shrived by Padre Adano Gilo (or
Adan Gilg), the priest of Populo. This duty performed, he resumed
the trail of the Seri, accompanied by the padre; and, approaching the
sea, he found a port, as well as an island to which most of the Seri had
escaped in balsas, leaving eight of their number, who were arrested and
turned over to the priest.^

This is the first record of actual invasion of Seriland by Gaucasians.
According to Bancroft, it " may be deemed the beginning of the Seri
wars which so long desolated the province".^

The next noteworthy episode occurred when Sergeant Escalante,
who had returned to Tuape and Santa Magdalena (de Tepoca), again
set out for the coast on February 28, 1700, taking a new route (probably *
down Eio Bacuache). He traveled 30 leagues, passing four watering
places, and on March 6 arrived at the Paraje de Aguas Frias (probably

' Identified by Alexandre de Humboldt in bis Carte G6n6ral6 du Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne,
of 1804 (in Atlas G6ograpbique et Pbysique, Paris, 18U) . So late as 1840 the old name was sometimes
retained, e, g., on Robert Greenhow's map accompanying liie History of California and Oregon.

2In one of the last letters from his pen. dated November 25, 1899, the late Dr Elliott Coues .wrote,
"I find you trailing Kino and Mange in 1694 precisely as I had them, and I make no doubt of the sub-
stantial accuracy of your typewritten MS. I accept your position that the large island they sighted
and named San Agustin was not Tiburon, but Anp'el de la Guarda Isl "

'A mission founded in 1699 by Padre Melchor Bartiromo ( Historii de la CompaQia de Jesus en
Nueva Espafia, que esta escribiendo el P. Francisco Javier Alegre, 1842, tomo III, p. 117), of which the
location has long been lost.

*Resumen de Noticias, op. cit., tomo I, p. 321.

^Op. cit., p. 275 (the year la misprinted 1800 on this page and in the index).

MOQEB] FIRST SIGHT OF SEBILAND — 1700 61

Pozo Escalante or Agua Amarilla of recent maps); there, three nights
later, he was attacked by archers, who discharged arrows into the
soldiers' camp and immediately fled. Subsequently, seeking their ene-
mies close to the sea 20 leagues away (probably on the eastern shore
of El Inflernillo), Escalante and his men were joined by 120 Tepoka
people; and, failing to And their assailants, they gave these allies a sup-
ply of provisions and turned them over to Padre Melchor Bartiromo,
who allotted to them, in conjunction with 300 deserters from the mis-
sions who had been captured by the soldiers, hot only lands but corn
for sowing and eating. Having thus disposed of the Indians, Escalante
and his soldiers returned to the coast on March 28, 1700, to punish the
boldness and pride of the Indians in their stronghold ("los iudios seris
de la rancheria del medio"). Passing by balsas to the island, "they
overtook those who caught up bows and arrows to fight, of whom they
slew nine as an example to the others"; and these others they captured
and sent to the priest at Populo — after which the party returned to
Oucurpe in time to celebrate Holy Thursday on April 8.'

This contemporary recital, written by Escalante's acquaintance and
rival in exploration and subjugation, Juan Mateo Mange, bears both
internal and external evidence of falling well within the truth. It is
corroborated and extended by Alegre's version, written forty or fifty
years later on data at least partially independent : according to Alegre,
Escalante and his soldiers went on balsas to the"Isla de los Seris,
which is called San Agustin by some, but more commonly Tiburon".
He added that the retreats of the Seri after the murders and robberies
committed at the pueblos of Pimeria, as well as the abundant pearl
fisheries, have made this place highly noted ("muy famosa"); and he
correctly described the strait and the projecting sand-banks opposite
the center of the island, which reduce the open water to a width of
barely half a league: "At this constriction the Seri cross in balsas
composed of many slender reeds, disposed in three bundles, thick in the
middle and narrowing toward the ends, 5 and 6 varas in length. These
balsas sustain the weight of four or five persons, and with light two-
bladed paddles 2 varas in length cut the water easily." He remarked
also that while a part of the Seri seen on the island by Escalante were
captured the major portion escaped, "fleeing with great swiftness".^

The early record is also corroborated, in a manner hardly credible in
regions of more rapid social and physiographic development, by local
tradition and by the survival of the well excavated by the party and
still bearing Escalante's name.

On the whole it may be considered established that Sergeant Esca-
lante crossed El Infiernillo and visited Tiburon in 1700; and, although
it may be possible that pearl fishers or others preceded him, he must
be credited with the first recorded exploration of strait and island by
white men.

■Kesumen de Noticias, op. cit., tomo i, pp. 321-322. ^ Op. oit.,tomo in, pp. 117-119.

62 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

The specific references to the Serf and their insular habitat by Eibas,
by Kino and his chronicler, and by the various recorders of Escalante's
expeditions, establish the extent of the lore concerning people and
place, even before the end of the seventeenth century. This lore found
measurable expression in maps prepared in Europe, even by those car-
tographers who purposely or otherwise ignored the surveys of CTlIoa
and Alarcon. In his "newest and most accurate" map of America,
1662, Fredericus de Witt depicted the Gulf of California ("Mare Ver
mio olim Mare Evbrvm") as extending northward to connect with the
mythic Strait of A.nian (" Fretum Aniani"), yet he located Eio Colorado
("E. de Tecon") and Eio Gila ("E. de Coral") approximately, placing
the largest island in the gulf, named "I. Gigante", just off their (com-
mon) embouchure;^ and an anonymous map of the Pacific ocean, appar-
ently by the same author and of closely corresponding date, i| essen-
tially similar.^ The map of the northern part of America by Peter
van der Aa, about 1690, is also similar, though on smaller scale; ^ and
the same may be said of that cartographer's new map of America, issued
about the same time, in which the island is designated " I. de Gigante".*
A somewhat later map by Yan der Aa (although supposed to have been
issued in 1690) is greatly improved; the " Mer de Californie " is brought
to rather indefinite end a little above the mouth of Eio Colorado (" E.
de bona guia"); the "Pimases" are placed in proper position with
respect to the Gila ("E. de Coral"), and the "Herises" are located a
third of the way and the "Ahomeses" half vay down the gulf; while a.
greatly elongated island stretches from the one to the other off the
province of "Sonora".^ The origin of the name "Gigante" is uncer-
tain; it may be borrowed from a land feature. As used in some cases
it apparently connotes the size of the island, while the use in other
cases evidently connotes gigantic inhabitants.

Naturally, in view of the slow and imperfect diffusion of knowledge
characteristic of early times, cartographers were dilatory in introducing
the observations of Kino and Escalante, The map of America by
Herman Moll, about 1708," represents the "Gulf of California or Eed
Sea", connecting the "South Sea" with the "Straits of Annian", and
depicts Eio Colorado ("Tison E.") and a composite river apparently
designed to represent Eio Gila (made up of "E. Sonaca", "E. Azul",
and " E. Colorado", with two other long tributaries from the south)
embouching separately a little below midlength of the gulf. Somewhat
above these are three islands, one of which is designated "Gigate

iNo-vissima et Accuratissima Septentrioualis ac Meridionalls Amerioie, Amsterdam. (In American
Maps, 1579-1796, 'Library tr. S. Geological Survey, 135.)

2Mar del Zvr, Hispania, Mare Paoificum. (Ibid., 129.)

8 'T Noorder Deel van Amerika, Leyden. (Ibid., 178.)

^Nonvelle Carte del'Amerique, Leyden. (Ibid., 156.)

5L'Americ[ue Septentrionale Suivant les Nonvellea Observations, etc., Leyden. (Ibid., 181.) This
island is not named, but is undoubtedly the Sauta Inez of several other maps — the Angel de la Guarda
of the present.

^North America, according to ye Newest and most Exact Observations, etc., London. (Ibid., 93.)

MOQBE] CARTOGRAPHIC IMPERFECTIONS — CIRCA 1700 63

Isle", while "Pimeria" is located correctly with respect to Rio Gila,
though too close to the sea, and "R. Souora" is located too far south-
ward, with a province of the same name just north of it. There is no
reference to the Seri, but a locality in Lower California opposite Sonora
is named "Gigante".' Quite similar is the map of North America
drawn and engraved by R. W. Seale about 1722, though the provinces
of Pimeria and 8onora are brought closer together, while the magnified
Gila is nam(^d Colorado ("Tison R." also being retained).^ The map of
North America presented to the Due de Bourgogne by H, laillot about
1720 is much the same; the "Isle de Californie" is separated from the
continent by "Mar Vermejo ou Mer Rouge" with four islands, of which
the southernmost, "I. de Gigante", lies somewhat below the separate
mouths of "R. de Tecon" and "R. de Coral", while the extravagantly
magnified Gila of previous maps is partially replaced by a still more
extravagant "R. del Norte", rising in a mythical lake above the forti-
eth parallel and falling into the gulf under the thirtieth.^ The map of
Mexico and Florida by Guillaume " De I'Isle", published in Amsterdam
by Covens and Mortier, 1722, patently begs the question as to the
northern extension of " Mer de Californie" by cutting off the cartography
at the critical point. "R. del Tison" is retained as a subordinate river,
while the separate and greatly magnified Gila corresponds with that of
the laillot map, the upper tributary being "R. Sonaca ou de Hila";
"R. di Sonora" is depicted in approximate position, with the province
of the same name extending northward and "Seris" located a little
above the mouth of the river. No islands are shown in the vicinity,
but the name " Gigante" appears on the western coast of the gulf, about
latitude 26°.* The map of North America by the same author, sup-
posed to date about 1740 though probably earlier, recalls the Van der
Aa map of 1690 ( ?) ; "Mer de Californie ou Mer Vermeille" ends doubt-
fully about latitude 34°, where "R. de bona guia" and "R. de Coral"
bound the "Campagne de bona guia", and fall separately into the gulf
near its head; the"Pimases", "Herises", "Sumases", "Aibinoses", and
" Ahomeses" are distributed thence southward along the coast to about
the twenty-eighth parallel, while a nameless island stretches parallel
with the coast of "Souora" from about 28° to 32°.^

With one or two exceptions, these maps demonstrate the prevailing
neglect or ignorance of the classic explorations along the western coast
of America early in the sixteenth century; yet they introduce features
representing vague knowledge of the Seri Indians and their insular
habitat, undoubtedly derived (like that of Padre Kino and Sergeant
Escalante anterior to their expeditions) from native sources.

•Doubtless the mountain " La Griganta", named by Admiral Otondo toward the end of the seven-
teenth century (Documentas para la Historia de Mexico, cuarta s6rie, 1857, tomo v, p. 122), and noted
by Hardy in 1826 (Travels in Interior of Mexico in 1825, 1826, 1827, and 1828, London, 1829, p. 243).

2 A map of North America, with the European Settlements and whatever else is Kemarkable in ye
West Indies, from the latest and best Observations. (American maps, loc. oit., 110.)
*Amerique Septentrionale Divisfie en Ses Principales Parties. (Ibid., 109.)
^ Carte du Mexique et'de la Floride, des Terres Angloises et des Isles Antilles, etc. (Ibid., 136.)
^L'Ameriqne Septentrionale . . . par Gr. de I'Isle: Amsterdam, Chez Pierre Mortier. (Ibid., 172.)
The island is, of course, Santa Inez, i. e., Angel de la (ruarda.

64 THE SEE! INDIANS [eth.aiin.17

The Kino map of 1702 gradually came to be recognized as trustworthy
in important particulars, and brought to an end the baseless extension
northward of the gulf; yet it was seriously inaccurate in details, par-
ticularly those affected by the erroneous identification of the second-
largest island in the gulf with the largest. Accordingly Isla Santa
Inez (the modern Isla Angel de la Guarda) is omitted from its proper
position, and replaced by "I. S. August" close to the eastern coast;
yet the laud-mass of Tiburon is roughly defined as a peninsula bounded
on the north by "Portus S. Sabina" (Bahia Tepopa) and on the south
by "Baya S. loa. Bapt." (Bahias Kunkaak and Kino). Two other
considerable islands are represented as dividing the width of the bay
west-southwest of "I. S. August", and are named "2. Saltz-Insel";
although evidently traditional, their positions correspond roughly with
those of San Esteban and San Lorenzo. The map locates the "Topo-
kis" between Eio San Ignacio and Eio Sonora, with the "Guaimas"
immediately below the latter.' Kino's three pier-like islands bridging
the gulf were adopted in Delisle's map of America, published in Am-
sterdam by Jean Oovens and Corneille Mortier about 1722, in greatly
reduced size, though larger islands are shown farther northward; and
an ill-defined peninsula corresponding to Tiburon is retained.'' The
D'Anville map of 1746 embodies Kino's discoveries about the he^d of
the gulf and retains his pier-like islands, yet not only corrects his error
in omitting the second greatest island of the gulf, but perpetuates equal
error in the opposite direction: "I. de S. Vicente" is made the largest
of the islands and located near the western coast a little below the mouth
of Kio San Ignacio, while "I. de Sta. In6s" is matle second largest and
is located southeast of it and near the eastern coast. The third island
in size is named " Seris ", while the fourth and fifth, completing the Kino
trio, are called " Is. de Sal", and the mainland projection remains defined
on the south by "B. de S. Juan".^ The Vaugondy map of 1750 locates the
transverse trio of islands in greatly reduced size, and omits the larger
islands of the gulf.* The islands, etc., of tiie Covens and Mortier map of
1757 correspond closely with D'Anville's map of 1746, and a nameless bay
defines a peninsula in the position of Tiburon.* The Pownall map of 1783
also follows that of D'Anville so far as the islands are concerned, though ,
the position of that corresponding to the present Angel de la Guarda
lies beyond the limit of the sheet; "I. de Inez" lies some distance
below the mouth of "Sta. Madalena" river, off the territory of the
"Sobas" and "Seris"; "Seris I." is smaller, the two "Sail Is." are
smaller still, and there is an ill-defined projection of the mainland,
bounded on the south by "B. de S. Juan".'^

While the makers of the later of these maps were engaged in perpet-

' Map in Stocklein, op. cit.

2 Carte d' Americtue, etc. (American maps, loc. cit., 20.)

« Am^riqne Septentrionale . . . par le Sr. d'Anville, Paris. (Ibid., 50 and 51.)
■■AmSrique Septentrionale . . . par le Sr. Eobert de Vaugondy, Paris. (Ibid., 27.)
'L'Amerique Septentrionale, etc., Amsterdam. (Ibid., 160.)

"A new map of North America, with the West India Islands. . . . Laid down according to the
latest Surveys, and Corrected from the Original Materials of Gover; Pownall, London. (Ibid., 22.)

MCGEE] THE DIFFICULT ISLANDS 65

uating the vestigial features, erroneous and otherwise, of the Kino map,
the Jesuitsof peninsularCaliforniaemployed themselves in reexploration
of the western coast of the gulf, a particularly productive expedition
being that of Padre Ferdinando Gonsag, in 1747. The padre's map rep-
resents the western coast in considerable though much distorted detail,
and depicts "1. del Angel de la Guarda" as a greatly elongated body, a
third of the way across the gulf from the western coast; next in size is
" I. d S. Lorenzo" ; then come " I. d S. esteban " in the middle of the gulf,
and in the same transverse line, but quite near the eastern coast, " I. d S.
Agustin ", the two being approximately equal in size, while above and
about equidistant from them is "I. de S. Pedro ", about half so large as
either. These, with four smaller islands near the western coast, bear
the general designation " Islas de Sal, si puedes ", which in this case
may be translated "Salt (possibly) islands," though later forms of the
name imply a quite different meaning, i. e., " Islands of Get-out-if-(you-)
can", or " Get-out-if-canst ".' The eastern coast shows two deep inden-
tations named "Tepoca" and "Bahia d S. Juan Bautista" bounding a
peninsula corresponding in position to insular Seriland.^ It is evident
that the cartography of the eastern coast is based on that of Kino, that
the island of San Agustin is hypothetic, and that the bind-mass of
Tiburon proper is not separated from the mainland, while San Pedro
island is apparently the Isla Patos of the present. The more general
map by Venegas combines details of the Consag, Kino, and other maps;
"I. del Angel de la Guarda" is greatly magnified and placed some-
what too far northward, while both San Lorenzo and San Esteban are
made much larger than "I. San Agustin", which is represented as
scarcely larger than "I. de S. Pedro"; the mainland is indented to

'It seems probable that various early cartographers were misled by the traditional lore of "saline-
ros", or salt-malting Indians, in combination with the unusnal designation of these islands. In his
text Padre Consag rendered the term " Sal-si-puedes ", and strongly emphasized the violent tidal cur-
rents and consequent dangers to vessels which suggested the vigorously idiomatic designation to
early navigators (Venegas. Noticia de la California, in, p. 145) ; in the Venegas map (ibid., tomo i, p. 1)
the name is used without tlie qualifying comma, and in the test it is hyphenated " Sal-si-puedes ", the
author observing concerning the local currents, *' These currents run with astonishing rapidity, and
their noise is equal to that of a large rapid river among rocks ; nor do they run only in one direction,
but set in many intersected gyraiions" (A Natural and Civil History of California, p. 63). And the
" Sacerdote Religioso", whose letters place him among the authorities on Lower California, wrote : "In
the narrows of the gulf are a multitude of islets, for the passage being so dangerous to vessels they are
called Sal H puedes " (Noticias de la Provincia de Californias, Valencia, 1794, p. 11) ; while Hardy, who
navigated this portion of the gulf early in the present century (Travels in the Interior of Mexico, London,
1829, p. 279), mentioned a passage " between the islands called ' Sal si Puedes ' (get back if you can)".
So, too. Dufiot de Mofras wrote of "les ilea de Sal si puedes (Sors si tu peux)" in his Explorations du
Territoire de rOr6gon, Paris, 1844, p. 219. Bancroft properly reduced the obscure counotive phrase to
the single denotive term "Salsipuedes," and noted the signification as "Get out if thou canst "(North
Mexican States, vol. i, p. 444) . In 1873-1875 Dewey restricted the name to a single island and a channel,
and emphasized the currents in the latter "against which sailing vessels found it almost impossible
to make any headway " (The West Coast of Mexico, Publication 56, U. S. Hydrographic OflQce, Bureau
of Navigation, 1880, p. 113), and rendered the name "Sal-si-puedes'' in the text, "Sal si puedes" ontho
charts. Hittell's reference to ' ' the group of islands then known as Salsipuedes, the largest of which
is now called Tiburon" (History of California, vol. I, p. 225), doubtless expresses the early use of the
terra precisely, save that the present Tiburon was long treated as a part of the mainland, while its
name% were applied to Isla Tassne or some other islet. Vide postea, p. 45.

^Seno de California, etc., in Venegas, Noticia de la California, tomo in, p. 194.
17 ETH 5

66 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.i?

great depth by Kino's "Pto. de Sta. Sabina" and " Bahia de Sn. Juan
Baptista", in such wise as to define a decided peninsula, while the
"Seris" are located 2° farther southward and below Rio Sonora, and
the "Guaimas" still farther down the coast.' Another illustration of
the chaotic notions of the time is afforded by the Baegert map, pub-
lished in 1773, and credited largely to Consag.^ The sheet locates the
author's routes of arrival (1751) and departure (1768), the former over-
land from far down the coast to the mouth of " Torrens Hi^qui," and
thence directly across " Mare Californiae", via "Tiburon " (lying just off
the mouth of the river, in latitude 28°), with the usual congeries of
islands, headed by "I. S. Aug. Gart" (Angel de la Guarda), in lati-
tude 300-31°, and the usual shore configuration above the debouchure
of Eio Sonora; "Los Seris" are located in the interior between Eio
Sonora and " Torrens Hiaqui ", while just above the mouth of the latter
lies " Guaymas M.[ission] destr. per ApOstatas Seris". The I*ownall
map of 1786 incorporates Padre Oonsag's results on reduced scale, but
omits the islands toward the eastern shore of the gulf.'

On the whole the cartography of a century indicates that the strik-
ing explorations of Ulloa, Alarcon, and Diaz were utterly neglected;
it indicates, too, that Kino's observations were promptly adopted, but
that his erroneous identification of the island seen from Nazareno
occasioned confusion ; yet there is nothing to indicate definite knowl-
edge of Bscalante's discoveries. Apparently the cartographic tangle
began with the failure to discover the narrow strait traversing Seriland,
coupled with hearsay notions of an insular Seri stronghold; it was
complicated by Kino's erroneous identification of the hearsay island ;
and it grew into the mapping of a traditional islet about the position
of Tiburon, and the extension of the mainland into a peninsula
embracing the actual land-mass of that island'' — the islet lying about
the site of the modern Isla Tassne, and often appearing under the
name San Agustin.^ Accordingly, so far as maps are concerned, Bsca-
lante's discoveries were no less completely lost than those of Ulloa.

The recorded history of the Seri Indians during the earlier two-thirds
of the eighteenth century is largely one of zealous effort at conversion
on the part of the Jesuit missionaries, who repeatedly approached the
territory by both land and sea; yet the records touch also on events
of exploration and on the characteristics of the tribe.

One of the earliest chroniclers was Padre Juan Maria de Sonora, who
in 1699-1701 inspected many of the missions of Lower California and

' Koticia de la California, tomo I, p. 1.

' California, per P. Perdinanduni Conaak, S. I., et alios, in Nacliricliten von der amerikanisohen
Halbinsel Californien. . . . Geschrieben von einem Priester der Gesellsohaft Jesu (identified as Jacob
Baegert by Eau, Smithsonian Eeport, 1863, p. 352) -, Mannheim, 1773.

3 A New Map of the Whole Continent of America, London. (American maps, loc. cit., 4.)

* This cartography reappeared occasionally up to about tlie middle of tlie nineteenth century, as
illustrated by the Greenhow map accompanying the edition of his history issued in 1845.

= This condition is revealed in Miihlenpfordt, Versuoh einer getreuen Sohildernng der Eepublio
Mejico, etc. ; Hannover, 1844.

MCQEE] THE JESUIT RECORDS — 1701-1709 67

Sonora and acquainted himself in exceptional degree with the neophytes
and their wilder kindred. About the beginning of 1701 he crossed with
great danger ("pas6 con grande peligro") from Loreto to the eastern
coast, and, accompanied by two " Indios Guaymas, caciques," proceeded
among the Sonoran settlements.' On February 18 he was at the new
town of Magdalena (de Tepoca), "where, with great labor, Padre
Melchor Bartiromo had gathered more than a hundred souls of the
maritime nation of Tepocas", and where the visitors were accorded an
enthusiastic reception. He went on to say :

It is notable that where the Tepocas and Salineros are located the sea is populous
with islands [may poblado de islas], and the first of these toward the coast con-
tains foot-folk [gente de &, pi^], who live on it. Then there are two islands much
nearer the mainland of California, and it is said that they [the Tepoka] are able to
navigate in their barquillas [balsas] to the adjacent coast; and the possession of
these Tepocas, who are all Seris by nation, of certain words of the Cuchimies of
[Lower] California, who occupy the opposite coast, indicates that they have com-
municated in other times. ^

This record is especially significant as indicating the affinity between
the Seri and the Tepoka, as establishing the transnavigation of the
Gulf by the Seri craft, and as explaining the possible passage of loan
words from the Gochimi to the Seri, and presumptively from the Seri
to the Gochimi.

A notable visitor to the shores of Seriiand was Padre Juan Maria Sal-
vatierra, who had previously "made a peace betwixt the Seris cris-
tians, and the Pimas", soon violated by the former " in the mur-
der of 40 Pimas ". In August, 1709, he essayed the recovery of a vessel
wrecked "on the barren coast of the Seris", which these Indians were
engaged in looting and breaking up for the nails; and, by dint of bis
" persuasive elocution . . . not a little forwarded by the respect-
able sweetness of his air ", aided by timely explosions of the bark's
pateraroes (mortars), he induced restitution, the restoration of peace,
and the reinstatement of several of the robbing and murdering Seri as
communicants.^ Padre Salvatierra observed the distinctive character
of the Seri tongue, but made no extended exploration of Seriiand,
either coastwise or interior.

The next noteworthy visitor was Padre Juan de Ugarte, who, at the
instance of Salvatierra, undertook an exploration of the gulf coast
complementary to Kino's land explorations about its northern terminus.
Ugarte was the Hercules of Baja Galifornia history; he awed the
natives by slaying a Galifornia lion, unarmed save with stones, and
enforced orderly attention to his catechizing by seizing an obstreper-
ous champion by the hair, lifting him at arm's length, and shaking him
into submission; and under incredible difficulties due to absence of
material and distance of timber, he built the first vessel ever con-

' Docuraentos para la Historia de Mexico, ouarta sdrie, tomo v ; Mexico, 1857, pp. 125-126.

2 Ibid., p. 132.

' Venegas, A Natural and Civil History of California, vol. i, pp. 405-411.

68 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ank.17

structed in California, the bilander (two-master) HI Triunfo de la
Grug—a, fit prototype of the Oregon of nearly two centuries later —
which proved to be the finest craft ever seen on the coast, and played
an important r61e in later history.'

On May 15, 1721, Ugarte embarked at Loreto (Lower California) and
skirted the coast northward to the Islas de Salsipuedes, whence he
crossed the gulf to "Puerto de Santa Sabina, 6 Bahia de San Juan
Bautista" near the islands " en la Costa de los Tepoquis, y Seris ".^ The
Indians soon appeared and, in excess of amity (ascribed to the display
of the cross), threw themselves into the sea and swam to the ship, and
afterward aided in taking water; for "early next day the Indians
appeared in troops, and all with water- vessels ; the men each with two
in nets hanging from a pole across their shoulders, and the women
with one." ^ After watering, the Ugarte party, accompanied by two
of the Indians, set sail in the bilander with a pinnace and a canoe, and
in the early morning found themselves in a narrow channel apparently
separating the island from the mainland ; the pinnace and the canoe were
dispatched to courier the larger craft; but " the channel, besides being
narrow and crooked, was so full of shoals that . . . the bilander
stuck and was in danger of being lost ", while the canoe and the pinnace
were caught by the currents and carried " to such a distance as not to
be seen". Finding it impossible to return, the party pushed on, and
" after three days of continual danger, they reached the mouth of the
channel, where they found the boat and pinnace"; when they were
surprised to find the strait opening, not into the gulf, but into a great
and spacious bay. Approaching a landing, they were met by Indian
archers wearing feather headdresses and comporting themselves in a
threatening manner; but these were pacified by the two Indians
brought from the watering-place. Here Ugarte was taken ill, and the
islanders made thirteen "balsillas" on which fifty Indians passed to
the bilander and urged him to land on the island, where they had pre-
pared a house for his reception ; this he did, despite severe suffering,
and was received with great ceremony. After a short stay, the party
explored the coast northward, stopping off Caborca to lay in supplies,
and discovered (anew and independently) the mouth of the Colorado;
then, despite repeated risk and much suffering from the exceeding
tides, severe storms, and the terrible tiderips off Islas Salsipuedes,
they finally made return to Loreto.

The itinerary of this voyage recounts the first recorded navigation
through El Infiernillo; and, while it is too meager to permit retracing
the trip in detail, it seems practically certain that the vessels entered
Bahia Tepopa, watered at Pozo Hardy, passed around Punta Perla
and thence southward through the strait, and emerged through Boca
Infierno into Bahia Kunkaak, .afterward proceeding westward and

'Hittell, op. cit., Tol. I, pp. 191-193, 219-221.

' Venegas, Koticia de la California, tomo ii, p. 343.

3 Venegas, A Natural and Civil History of California, vol. u, p. 48.

MOGEB] FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATION 1721 69

northward around tbe outer coast, and thus circumnavigating Tibu-
ron. While Ugarte's pilot, Guilermo Estrafort (or Strafort),' dis-
played great energy and courage in charting the coast, the voyage
neither yielded published maps nor aitected current and subsequent
cartography ; for, although Ugarte's narrative and Estrafort's map and
journal were sent to Mexico to be presented to the viceroy, they were
apparently lost.^ Nor does the itinerary indicate recognition of Kino's
error in identification of th6 Seri island, though several days were
occupied in voyaging from the island to the latitude of Gaborca ; indeed,
it seems probable that it was either Salvatierra, Kino's intimate asso-
ciate, or Ugarte, Kino's colleague and Salvatierra's intimate friend,
who fixed tlie name of the pioneer padre on the geographic features
still known as Bahia Kino and Punta Kino — features which Kino never
knew, as already shown.

Although both Salvatierra and Ugarte were on superficially amicable
terms with the Seri, the amity was evidently of the shallowest and
most evanescent sort. Venegas says :

Of the Seria and Tevocas, although the padre passed among them with the pay in
his hand, he could not jnduce them to assist him in any way, even when they saw
the party in the greatest distress; while others toiled, they reclined with the great-
est serenity, nor have they shown the priests the slightest civility during the forty
years of their acquaintance— they utterly refused to part with oUas of coarse ware,
oven for a liberal exchange. '

And the contemporary lore, erystallized in current administrative
policy and later records, and corroborated by deep-rooted customs
maintained for centuries and still persisting, is significant; it indicates
that then, as now, it was the habit of the Tiburon islanders to flee
from or fawn upon powerful visitors, to ambush or assail by night
parties of moderate strength, to openly attack none but the weak or
defenseless, yet ever to delight in tricking the credulity and consuming
the stores and stock of aliens, and to revel in shedding alien blood when
occasion offered. The adventurous hunters and gold seekers of the
mainland, and the still hardier pearl fishers of the coast, wrote noth-
ing; but both civil and ecclesiastical records imply common knowledge
that weaker parties venturing into the purlieus of Seriland never
returned — they disappeared and left no sign.

While Salvatierra and Ugarte were occupied on the coast, the
missionaries were no less industrious in the interior. The mission of
Santa Magdalena de Tepoca was apparently soon abandoned; but the
so-called Seri missions at Populo ( Nuestra Senora del Populo ) and
Angeles (Nuestra Seiiora de los Angeles) were maintained from the
time of Kino's coming up to the expulsion of the Jesuits (in 1767),
while that at Nacameri was nearly as well sustained. The relations

' An Englishman named (probably) William Strafford, according to Bancroft; op. cit, vol. i, p. 444.

2 Venegas, Noticia de la California, tomo ii, p. 370.

3 Ibid., p. 366.

70 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

of these missions to Seriland are significant: according to the anon-
ymous author of Sonora's classic, "Eudo Ensayo", written in 1763,
Nacameri lay in the valley of Eio Opodepe (or Horcasitas), 7 leagues
below the town of the same name (still extant) ; 9 leagues down the
same stream lay Populo (on the site of the present town of Horcasitas) ;
Angeles lay 3 or 4 leagues farther downstream, or over 12 leagues
above the site of Pitic' (the present Hermosillo); while various refer-
ences indicate that the temporary mission of Santa Magdalena was
located in the same valley, probably a few leagues above Opodepe.^
Accordingly, the missions ranged from 100 to 150 miles inland, meas-
ured in an air line, or four hard days' journey, as shown by Bscalante's
record, from the Seri coast. The nearest mission at Angeles was 75
miles, or three days' journey, from the inland margin of Seriland proper,
and the intervening territory was a depopulated expanse (" el grande
despoblado") according to VillaSenor,^ ranged but not inhabited by
Seri and Tepoka hunting parties. Never traversed by white men, save
those of Coronado's parties nearly two centuries before and of Esca-
lante's hurried expeditions of 1700, this " despoblado " was practically
unknown; even the surprisingly well-informed author of "Rudo
Ensayo" was unaware of the existence of Eio Bacuache, and noted
only such prominent mountains as Oerro Prieto and "Bacoatzi the
Great in the land of the Seris",* lying far outside the tribal home. The
remoteness of the missions from the habitat of the tribe bears testi-
mony to the dread with which they were regarded, and to the slight-
ness of the influence exerted on the tribesmen by the zealous padres.

Despite the efforts of both priesthood and soldiery, the number of
Seri converts at the missions was limited. In 1700 there were ten fami-
lies at Populo; true, they had slipped away to maverick the herds
("por ladrones de ganados"), but Escalante overtook them and whipped
them back to the shadow of the church; later he captured 120 Tepoka
people (probably some twenty families, with a few strays), and recap-
tured 300 backsliders (perhaps fifty families or more), and haled them
all to the mission, where lands were allotted to them and where they
were carefully guarded by the ecclesiastics — until opportunity came for
reescape; and to this congregation Escalante added a few Seri prisoners
taken on Tiburon, as noted above. In 1727 Brigadier Pedro de Eivera
noted a dozen tribes in central Sonora, including the "Seris" and
"Tepocas", numbering 21,746 "of all ages and both sexes", all receiving

* Rudo Ensayo, G-uiteras' translation in Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of
Philadelphia, vol. V, 1894, p. 124. Bandelier identified the author as Padre Nentwig, S. J., of Huassar
Tas, eastern Sonora (Final Report of Investigations among the Indians, etc., part 1, in Papers of
the Archaeological Institute of America," vol. m, 1890, p. 78). The name is written " John Nentuig"
in a third-person reference in Guiteras' translation ; but an editorial footnote add.s, "No doubt a
printer's mistake for Mentuig— L. "F. F [lick]" (ibid., p. 191).

^Noticias Estadisticas del Bstado de Sonora, by Jos6 Francisco Velasco, Mexico, 1850, p. 124.

* Theatre Americano, Descripcion General de los Reynos, y Provinciaa de la Nueva-Espaiia, y sus
Jurisdicciones, Joseph Antonio de VillarSeSior, y Sanchez, segunda parte ; Mexico, i748, p. 392.

■• Op. oit., p. 133.

MOGEE] REMOTENESS OP MISSIONS — 1700-1763 71

the ministrations of "los Padresde laCompafiiade Jesvs". He added:
"Besides the above-named Indians there are found in the middle part
of the province of Ostimuri, in the western part bordering on the Gulf
of California, certain nations of pagans in small numbers; they are
the Salineros, Oocomaques, aind Guaymas." ' Neither the numbers of
Seri and Tepoka at the missions, nor the respective proportions at the
missions and on the native habitat, were recorded by the brigadier.
According to Alegre, eighty families (including those transferred
from Pitic) were gathered at Populo and Angeles, under the specially
sedulous efforts of Judge Jose Rafael Gallardo, in 1749;* although
Padre Nicolas de Perera, "who for the longest time bore with their
insolent behavior, . . . did not see more than 300 Imndred
persons when they had all come together".^ It would appear that the
great majority of the Populo and Angeles converts belonged to the
Tepota, while others belonged to the Guayma and Upanguayma, with
whom the Seri were at war about that time;* yet there were enough
representatives of the Seri to gain a shocking character for sloth, filth,
thievery, treachery, obstinacy, and drunkenness. Assuming that a
quarter of the converts were Seri (and this ratio is larger than any of
the known records would indicate), there could hardly have been more
than a hundred of the tribe gathered about the several missions at this
palmiest time of Jesuit missionizing; and the records show that by far
the greater portion of these were women, children, cripples, and vieil-
lards, the warriors being commonly slain in the vigorous proselyting
expeditions conducted by the civil and military coadjutors of the
padres. If at this time the Seri population reached the 2,000 estimated
by D^vila^ and others, the proportion of proselytes (or apostates from
Seri naturalism) was but 5 per cent of the tribe and naturally comprised
the less vigorous and characteristic element. The writer of "Eudo
Eusayo" reckons that during six years preceding 1763 the Seri stole
from the settlers (for eating, the sole use to which they put such stock)
"more than 4,000 mules, mares, and horses",^ i, e., enough to sustain
two or three hundred people, or a full thousand if this meat formed no
more than a fourth or a fifth of their diet, as the contemporary records
imply — and .this was after the "extermination" of the Seri by Parilla
in 1750.

Evidently the good padres greatly overestimated their knowledge of
and influence on this savage yet subtle tribe; actually they touched
the Seri character only lightly and temporarily, contributing slightly

' Diario y Derrotero de lo CaiDinado, Viato, y Obcervado en el BiscurBo de la Viaita general de Pre-
cidioa, sitaados en las Provinciaa Tnternaa de Nueva Espaua ; Guathemala, 1836, leg. 1514-1519.

^Historia de la CompaCia de Jeaua, vol. iii, p. 290.

»Eudo Ensayo, p. 193.

^Bancroft, op. cit., vol. i, pp. 532-533. The former were aDnihilated or driven into the Yaqui coun-
try by 1763 (Eudo Bnsayo, p. 166) .

5 Sonera Histdrico y Descriptive, p. 319.

eibld., p. 140.

72 THE SERI INDIANS [bth.asn. 17

to spontaneous acculturation, but never coming into relation with the
tribe as a whole.

And despite the efforts of both soldiers and priests, the savages
continued to ravage the settlements, to repel pioneering, to decimate
the herds and murder the vaqueros who sought to protect them, to
plunder everything portable and ambuscade punitive parties, and even
to engage in open hostilities. "In 1730 the Seris, Tepocas, Salineros,
and Tiburon islanders kept the province in great excitement, killing
twenty-seven persons and threatening all the pueblos with a general
conflagration";' and both before and after this date the recorded san-
guinary episodes were too frequent for even passing mention, while the
indications between lines point to robberies and assassinations and
minor conflicts too many for full record even by the patient chroniclers
of the time. s,

Sometime about the beginning of the eighteenth century the Spanish
settlements pushed down Rio Sonora beyond the confluence of the
Opodepe to the last water gap, made conspicuous by a marble butte in
its throat and by the fact that here the sometimes subterranean flow
always rose to the surface in a permanent stream of pure and cool
water. Here, according to Padre Dominguez, " it was attempted to
locate the Presidio of Oinaloa against the rapacity of the Zeris,
Tepocas, and Pimas; and here General Idobro, of Cinaloa, wished to
found a pueblo of Tiburon Indians, brought for the purpose [probably
from Populo and Angeles] that they might be kept in subjection, but
most of them returned to their island and attempted to make attacks
from their hiding places."^ Nevertheless, the padre found 29 married
persons, 14 single, and 99 children of these "races" at the rancho. At
the time of his visit the place was known as Eancho del Pitquin ; later
it became the Pueblo of Pitic, or Pitiqui, or Pitiquin, or San Pedro de
Pitic,^ and long afterward the city of Hermosillo, while the beautiful
marble butte was christened Oerro de la Campana.

By 1742 the settlements were so far extended as to warrant the
establishment of a royal fort in the water- gap at Pitic;* and the
ecclesiastics kept pace with the military movement by founding the
mission of San Pedro de la Conquista,^ or " Pueblo de San Pedro de la
Conquista de Seris'" (now abbreviated to "Pueblo Seris", or merely
"Seris"); both fort and mission being designed primarily for better

' Bancroft, op. cit., p. 517.

^Diario del Padre Bomiiiguez en Sonora y Slnaloa, 1731; manuscript in archives of the Bureau of
American Ethnology.

3 This place on Rio Sonora is not to be confounded with the Hancho (afterward Pueblo) of Pitiqui or
San Diego de Pitiqui {The Geographical and Historical Dictionary of America and the West Indies
* * * of Colonel Don Antonio de Alcedo, by G-. A. Thompson, London, 1814, vol. iv, p. 153), or Pitic
chiquito (Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog. y Est., vol. viii, 1860, p. 454), or Pitiquin, now the town of Pitiquito on
Kio San Ignacio.

"Alegre, Historia de la Compania de Jesus, tomo iii, p. 288; Villa-SeBor, Theatre Americano,
segunda parte, p. 392^ Kudo Eusayo, p. 193.

^ Bancroft, op. cit., vol. I, p. 528.

^ Eeise-Erinnerungen und Abenteuer aus der neueu Welt, von C. A. Pajeken, Bremen, 1861, p, 97.

MOGEE] FOUNDING OF PUEBLO SERI — 1742 73

protection of the settlements against Seri sorties. These outposts
brought the missionaries and their soldier supporters a day's journey
nearer Seriland, i. e., to within some 27 leagues (71 miles), or two days'
journey, from Bahia Kino and the desert boundary of the Seri strong-
hold; and although neither fort nor mission was continuously main-
tained, the event marked a practically permanent advance on the "des-
poblado" previously despoiled and desolated by the wandering Seri.

Even before this date friction between missionaries and laymen had
grown out of the ecclesiastical charity for a people whose repeated atroci-
ties placed them outside the pale of sympathy on the part of the indus-
trial settlers ; and this friction was felt especially about the new presidio.
In 1749 Colonel Diego Ortiz Parilla became governor of Sonora, and
began a rigorous rule over civilians, soldiers, ecclesiastics, and Indians ;
and when the 80 families (classed as Seri, but mainly of Tepoka and
other tribes) domiciled at Populo were dissatisfied with his transfers
of land and people, he promptly met their protests by arresting them
and transporting the greater part of them, including all the women and
children, to various places, "some even in Guatemala and other very
distant parts of America.'' ' Naturally this was resented, not only by
the Seri messmates at the missions, but to some extent by their kins-
men over the plains and along the coast, with whom sporadic commu-
nication was maintained — chiefly through spies, but partly by occasional
escapes of the practically imprisoned proselytes and the less frequent
but more numerous captures of new converts; and the Seri raids
became more extended and vindictive, reaching northward to Oaborca,
northeastward to Santa Ana and Cucurpe, and eastward into the fertile
valley of Kio Opodepe at several points. Deeply incensed in his turn,
Parilla undertook a war of extermination — a war interesting not merely
as an episode in Seri history, but still more as a type of the Seri
wars of two centuries. Organizing a force of 600 men, and bringing
canoes from Eio Yaqui, he planned an expedition to Tiburon, to cover
two months — and returned with 28 prisoners, " all women and children
and not a single Seri man"; though he reported killing 10 or 12 warriors
in action (according to other accounts the slain comprised only 3 or 4
oldsters). These women and children were domiciled at the pueblo of
the Conquest of the Seri, which in current thought thenceforth became
the pueblo of the Seri, and gradually passed into lore and later into
history as the home of the tribe rather than the mere penitentiary
which it was in fact. The padres waxed satirical over this quixotic
conquest : Alegre recounts that —

The good governor returned so vainglorious over his expedition that it was even
said he would punish anyone intimating that there was a Seri left in the world, and
proclaimed through all America and Europe that he had extirpated by the roots
that infamous race. . . . The truth is that the force, on reaching Tiburon,
ascertained that the enemy had retreated to the mountains; that none of the 75
Spaniards who accompanied the governor could be induced, either by entreaties or

1 Budo Ensayo, p. 194 ; Bancroft, op. cit., toI. i, p. 535.

74 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

threats, to ascend in search of the Seri; but that some of the Pima allies undertook
to beleaguer the mountains, these, with one or another of the officers, being the
only ones that saw the face of the enemy, and even these on two occasions only.
Prom the first sally they returned reporting that they had killed 3 of the Seri, and
their empty word was accepted ; the second time they were so fortunate as to dis-
cover a village of women and children, whom they took prisoners, and returned
declaring that the men had been left dead on the field. This famous conquest, which
the manuscript drawn up by the commander of the expedition did not hesitate to
compare with those of Alexander and Csesar, who were as nothing beside the gov-
ernor of Sonora, intoxicated much more the allied chief of the Pima, who had taken
the leading part in the final victory.'

Eventually the vanity of this chief (Luis, or " Luys de Saric") led to
a revolt on the part of the Pima tribe with the massacre of Padres
Tello and Eohen at Oaborca.

Ortega was still more sarcastic in his fuller record of the expedition.

The skepticism of the padres, as to the completeness of I'arilla's
extermination was well grounded, as was attested by the continuation
of Seri sorties with undiminished frequency and by the persistence of
hippophagy at the expense of the stockmen as already noted ; more-
over, in the absence of records of maritime operations, in view of the
impracticability of transporting so large a force as that of Parilla on
balsas, and in the light of a .still common application of the name
Tiburon to Sierra Seri and its environs as well as to the island, it would
seem to be an open question whether the much-lauded expedition ever
attained the insular stronghold, or even reached the seashore. How-
ever this may be, the expedition was the first of a long series sent
out to exterminate one of the hardiest and acutest of tribes, wonted to
one of the hardest and aridest of habitats; and, save in the subsequent
advertising, all have yielded results more or less similar.

Another curtailment of the range of the Seri dates from the refounding
of the mission of "San Jos6 de Guaimas'" (on the site of the present
Guaymas) in 1751, and the establishment of a "rancho called Opaii
Guaimas" some distance up the coast about the same time; the site of
the mission being that of a sanctuary located by Kino in 1701, and
revisited by Salvatierra and TJgarte, though never continuously main-
tained. True, the padre and the ranchero suffered from the Seri, who
displaced the former, killed ^ight of his converts, burned the churcl*
and scattered the hundred families of the pueblo, afterward keeping
the Spauiards at a distance for ten years f yet the settlers only returned
with new vigor, and gradually gained the strength requisite for hold-
ing the town. Naturally the belligerency of the Seri in this vicinity
impressed the state authorities with the desirability of further ''exter-
mination"; and when in 1756 a band of the Seri, after a hypocritical
suit for peace, entrenched themselves among the all but inaccessible

1 Hiatoria de la CompaBia de Jesus, torno in, pp. 290-291 ; of. Apoatoliooa Afanes de la Compailia
de Jesus, escritoa per un Padre de la misma Sagrada Religion de su Provinoia de Mexico ; Barcelona,
1754, pp. 366-368.

2Eudo Ensayo, p. 229 (misspelled "Gaiamas").

* Bancroft, op. cit. , vol. i, p. 554,

MO GEE] BATTLES OP CERRO PRIETO — 1756-1763 75

rocks and barrancas of Cerro Prieto (a rugged sierra midway between
Pitic and San Jos6 de Guaimas, which for this reason came to be
regarded — erroneously — as the headquarters of the tribe), Don Juan
Antonio de Mendoza, then governor of Sonora, sent out a strong body
of soldiery to dislodge or destroy them ; but after 200 of the soldiers
were ambushed and 24 of them wounded, the expedition returned to
the capital, San Miguel de Horcasitas. Stung by this defeat, Mendoza
reorganized his force and led the way in person to Oerro Prieto, where
one of the four parties into which the force was divided wrought such
execution that, in the following May, there were seen the bodies of
enemies " dead and eaten by animals, dead and partly buried in the
earth, dead lying in caves, and dead in the water-pockets of the sierra".^
In this battle Mendoza himself was ambushed and attacked by three
Seri archers, escaping only by the mediation of his saint (''per medio
de mi santo"); but during the ensuing night he carried out the ingeni-
ous ruse of beating drums in different parts of the canyon, which
reechoed from the rocky heights with such terrifying effect that the
enemy fled, leaving him in victorious possession of the field.

Again in 1760, when a band of the Seri (supposed to be temporarily
combined with the Pima) took refuge in Oerro Prieto, Governor
Mendoza attacked them with over 100 men; but a band of 19 Seri suc-
cessfully held this force at bay for several hours, until their chief
(called El Becerro) fell wounded and dying, yet retaining sufficient
vitality to rise,! as the Spaniards approached, and transfix Mendoza
with an arrow — when the two leaders died together.^ Mendoza was
succeeded by Governor Jose Tienda de Cuervo, who, in 1761, led a
force of 420 men to Gerro Prieto, where a still bloodier battle was fought,
the Seri losing 49 killed and 63 captured, besides 322 horses ; though
the greater part of their force escaped to the island of San Juan
Bautista (San Esteban?).^

In 1763 Don Juan de Pineda succeeded to the governorship, and
obtained the cooperation of a force of national troops under Colonel
Domingo Elizondo :

Headquartering in El Pitiqui, lie commenced active war against the said Seris,
but was unable to reduce them, because, being separated and dispersed over their
vast territory, they wore out the troops, who only occasionally stumbled on one
little rancheria or another. For this reason, and because in many years they could
not exterminate them, and desiring to leave the country, they opened negotiations
with them, making them small presents and offering them royal protection if they
would surrender peacefully. Some of them pretended to do this and assembled at
Pitiqui, where they remained with the same bad faith as always, fed at the expense
of the royal treasury, when the troops retired, leaving the evil un'cured, but merely
covered.*

In the same year Padre Tom^s Ignacio Lizazoin reported, for the

'Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, cuarta B6rie, tomo i, p. 85.
"Historia de la Gompania de Jesus, torao ni, p. 298.

^Ibid., p. 299; Eudo Ensayo, p. 196. It is probable that part or all of the captives were quartered at
Pueblo Seri, though the record is silent on this point.
' Besumen de Iloticiaa, op. cit., vol. i, p. 224.

76- THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

information of the viceroy, that the ravages of the Seri and other
Indians "had caused the almost total abandonment of Pimeria and
Sonora provinces", and proposed plans for protection which were
apparently never carried out.'

The aggressive and bloody policy of Parilla, Mendoza, and Cuervo
undoubtedly widened the divergence between the civil and ecclesiastical
authorities, and brought to nought the pacific policy of the latter.
Inspired by fervid zeal, the good padres stretched the mantle of char-
ity to its utmost over their converts, bringing into the fold all whom
they could coax or coerce, and clinging unto all whom they could sub-
sidize or suppress. Uninformed or misinformed concerning the extent
of Seriland and the numbers and real traits of its inhabitants on their
native heath, and professionally prone to see the most favorable side of
the situation, they imagined themselves making conquest over a cruel
and refractory tribe; yet careful review of the records indicates that they
deluded themselves, and in some measure distorted history, through
overweening notions concerning their progress in evangelizing the
Seri. Actually, their converts were the lame and halt and blind left
behind in the harder-pressed raids, captives taken in battle by the
intrepid Escalante and other soldiers, apostates and outlaws ostracized
and driven off by their fellows, spies sent out to find the way for fur-
ther rapacity,^ and the general riffraff and offscouring of the tribe,
who esteemed parasitism above the hereditary independence of their
kin. This condition is attested by lat6r examples; it is also attested by
the rapidly growing divergence of the ecclesiastical and civil policies;
it is equally attested by at least partial recognition of the situation on
the part of several of the padres: Villa-Senor, writing about 1745,
parades the mission and two pueblos of the tribe, and says, "All the Ceris
Indians are Christians" ("Todos los Indios Ceris, son Oristianos");'
yet he adds that "it is rare to find one who does not cling to the idol-
atry of their paganism", and elsewhere describes the great "des-
poblado" extending to the coast as inhabited by pagan Seri and Tepoka
Indians ("habitadode los Indios Seris,yTepoca, Gentiles")." Venegas,
writing about 1750, refers to "the Seris and Tepocas, who are either
infidels or imperfectly reduced, and tho' Father Salva Tierra civilized
them and the missionaries have baptized many, they still retain such
a love for their liberty and customs as all the labours of the mission-
aries have not been able to obliterate, so that it is impossible to incor-
porate them with the missions by mildness";" and his last word of them
notes their massacre of Padres Tellb and Eohen in Caborca, and ends

> Bancroft, op. cit., p. 565.

^Captain Fernando Sanchez Salvador, in his official Bepresentaciones to the Crown in 1751, com-
plains that these Indians "are allowed on frivolous pretexts to visit the presidios, and tbey'make use
of the privilege to discover weak points and to plan attacks" (Bancroft, op. cit., p. 542).

^ Xheatro Americano, segunda parte, p. 401.

ilbid., p. 392.

= History of California, vol. ii, p. 190.

MoaEE] THE JESUIT RECORDS — CIRCA 1750 77

with an invocation "for the complete reduction of these unhappy sav-
ages, now involved in the shadow of death".' So, also, the talented
author of "Rudo Ensayo", writing in 1763, says of the Seri:

They have always been wild, resisting the law of God, even those who had removed
from among them to Popnlo, Nacameri, and Angeles, and who constituted the small-
est part of the nation. And even these few, in order to have constant communica-
tion with and give information to their heathen relatives, used to go, as if they
could not arouse suspicion, to spy out in other villages what they wanted to know
for their plans, and immediately giving the intelligence they obtained to the runa-
way Indians, these would act accordingly and nobody could guess how they acquired
the necessary information.^

Again, in summarizing the relations with the tribe, this anonymous
author naively remarked:

And at the present day, notwithstanding that in different encounters during the
campaign of November, 1761, and before and since then, more than forty men have
been killed by our arms and over seventy women and children have been captured,
still they are as fierce as ever and will not lend an ear to any word of reconciliation.'

In general, the Jesuit history of the Seri is clear enough with respect
to the small extruded fraction, but nearly blind to the normal tribe;
there is nothing to indicate clear recognition of Seriland as a heredi-
tary habitat and stronghold; yet the records are such as to define the
salient episodes in Seri history as seen from a distantly external
view-point. Nor can it be forgotten that the erudite evangelists made
a deep and indelible impression on the intellectual side of Sonora, and
drew the strong historical outline on which their own relations to the
civil authorities on the one hand and to the Seri Indians on the other
hand are cast by the light of later knowledge.

The discordance between the civil and military authorities and the
dominant ecclesiastical order of Sonora sounded to Ciudad Mexico, and
eventually echoed to Madrid, and was doubtless one of a series of
factors which led to the needlessly harsh expulsion of the scholarly
Jesuits in 1767 — and hence to a hiatus in the history of the province
and its tribes.

Although the padres knew little of the habits and customs of the
" wild" Seri save through hearsay, some of their notes are of ethnologic
value: Villa-Senor located them on the deserts extending from Pitic
and Angeles to Tepopa bay, and added :

They hold and occupy various rancherias, and subsist by the chase of deer, bura
[mule-deer], rabbits, hares, and other animals, and also on the cattle they are able
to steal from the Spaniards, and on fish which they harpoon with darts in the sea,
and on the roots in which the land abounds.-"

Villa-Senor distinguished the "Tepocas ", whom he combined with the

' Ibid., p. 211. It is improbable that the Seri had anything to do with this particular butchery.
According toCoaes, the latter padre was killed at Sonoita; and he renders the name *'IluenorEuhen"
(On the Trail of a Spanish Pioneer ; the Diary and Itinerary of Francisco Garcfis, etc., 1900, vol. i, p. 88),

2 0p. oit., p.l93.

aOp.cit., pp. 195-190.

*Theatro Americano, p. 401.

78 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.1

" Gueimas" and " Jupangueimas". Alegre located the Seri on the coast
of the gulf from a few leagues north of the mouth of Eio Yaqui to Bahia
San Juan de Bautista (Bahia Kino), adding, " with them may be classed
the Guaimas, few in number and of the same language".^ Writing
about the same time, Jos6 Gallardo observed : " The distinction is slight
between the Seri and Upanguaima, the one and the other having the
same idiom" ("Poco es la distiiicion que hay eutre seri y upanguaima,
. . . yunos y otros casi hablan uu mismo idioma").^ The author of
"Eudo Ensayo" wrote: "The Guaimas speak the same language, with
but little dift'erence, as the Seris." ' He mistook Oerro Prieto as their
principal retreat; mentioned the mountains of Bacoatzi Grande, Las
Espuelas, and others g,s other haunts ; noted Tiburou and San Juan Bau-
tista (San Esteban ?) islands as less-known shelters, and gave extended
attention to "the poison they use for their arrows" as "the most viru-
lent known in these parts"; for "even in cases where the skin only is
wounded, the injured part begins to swell, and the swelling extends all
over the body to such a size that the flesh bursts and falls to pieces,
causing death in twenty-four hours." To test this poison, the Seri
"bandage tightly the thigh or arm of one of their robust young men;
then make an incision with a flint and let the blood flow away from the
wound. When the blood is some distance from the incision, they apply
the point of an arrow to it, steeped in the deadly poison. If at the
approach of the point of the arrow the blood begins to boil and recedes,
the poison is of the right strength, and the man who lends his blood
for the experiment brushes it out with his hand to prevent the poison
from being introduced into his veins." He weis unable "to find out
with certainty of what deadly materials the deadly poison is composed.
Many a thing is spoken of, such as heads of irritated vipers cut at the
very moment of biting into a piece of lung; also half putrefied human
flesh and other filth with which I am unwilling to provoke the nausea
of the reader." He added the opinion that "the main ingredient is
some root.""* Padre Joseph Och, who, with other German evangels
including padres Mittendorf, Pfefferkorn, and Ruen (or Eohen), was
stationed in northwestern Sonora shortly before the eviction of the
Jesuits, was one of the recorders of aboriginal traits and features,
though his record (like that of most of his confreres) is impoverished
by his failure to discriminate tribes; but one of his notes is specific:

As an extraordinary trapping [Zierde] Hhe Seris pierce the nasal septum and bang
small colored stones, whicM swing in front of the mouth, thereto by strings. A few-
carry, suspended from the nose, little blue-green pebbles, in which they repose
great faith. They prize these very highly, and one must give them at least a horse
or a cow in exchange for one."*

' Hlstoria de la CompaQia de .Jesus, p. 216.

''The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. in (The Native Races, vol. iii), 1882, p. 704.

»0p. cit., p. 168.

ilbid., pp. 197, 198.

^Nachrichten von verscliiedenen Landern des Spanisclies Amerika, aus eigenhiindigen Aufsat-
zen einiper Missiouare der . G-esellschaft Josu, berausgegeben von Christopb Gottlieb von Murr,
ersterTbeil; Halle, 1809, p. 255.

MCQEE] PASSING OF THE JESUITS — 1767 79

It is significant fact, and one attesting the physical and intellectual
distance of the padres from the normal Seri, that so few notes of ethno-
logic value were made during, the Jesuits' regime. With a single excep-
tion, so far as is known,' they recorded not a word of the Seri tongue, not
a distinctive custom beyond those evidently of common knowledge, none
of the primitive ceremonies and ideas such as attracted their coadjutors
in Canada and elsewhere. They made no reference to the alleged canni-
balism so conspicuous in later lore; but their silence on this point can-
not be -regarded as evidential, since they were equally silent concerning
nearly all the characteristic customs and traits. The neighboring Pap-
ago tribe met the invaders frankly as man to man, displaying a notable
combination of receptivity and self-containment which enabled them to
assimilate just so much of the Caucasian culture as they deemed desir-
able, yet to maintain their purity of blood and distinctiveness of culture
for centuries; the Seri, on the other hand, met the invaders as enemies,
to be first feared, then blinded, balked, and bled by surreptitious and
sinister devices, and finally to be assassinated through ambuscade or
remorseless treachery ; and it is manifest that they surpassed the gentle
padres in shrewdness and strategy, using them as playthings and tools,
and carefully concealing their own characters and motives the while.

With the passing of the Jesuits, the publication of Sonoran records
received a check from which theproviuce has never completely recovered.
True, the place of the order was partly taken by the Colegio Apostolico
de Quert^taro, which promptly dispatched fourteen Franciscan friars to
Sonora, early in 1768, to take possession of the old missions and to found
others;^ it is also true that civil enactments and commissions, as well as
military orders and reports, increased with the growth of population ;
but comjiaratively few of the events and actions found their way to
the press. Seri episodes continued to recur with irregular frequency;
according to Ddvila, the Seri outbreaks and wars "exceed fifty in num-
ber since the conquest of Sonora",^ and there are decisive indications
that the Franciscan regime was not without its due quota of strife.
Moreover, the period was one of somewhat exceptionally vigorous pio-
neering, of the initiation of mining and agriculture, and of conquest over
the "despoblado" formerly ranged and inhabited by the Seri. It was
during this period that the Seri were permanently dislodged from their
outlying haunts and watering-places in Cerro Prieto ; and it was during
this period, too, that exploration and settlement were extended to Eio
Bacuache with such energy as to displace the Seri from their other out-
lying refuge in the barrancas of this stream. But, as the events and
lines of progress multiplied, the burden for the contemporary chronicler

^The Noticia de las Personam que han escrito 6 publicado algunas obras sobre Idiomas oue He
hablan en la Kepublica (of Mexico), by Dr Joa6 Guadalupe Eomero, includes a MS. *'Yocabulario
de las Lenguaa Eadeve, Pina y Seris ", written by Padre Adamo Gilg (Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog. y Estad.,
I860, tomo vm, p. 378).

^JDdvila, Sonora Hist6rico y Descriptive, p. 10; Bancroft, op. cit., p. 672.

3Ibid., p. 319.

80 THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

augmented without corresponding increase in incentive to writing, and
it is little wonder that the custom of writing, copying, manifolding, and
printing the contemporary records fell into desuetude. .

Despite the meagerness of the Franciscan chronicles, the friars of
this order are to be credited with making and recording one of the most
noteworthy essays toward the subjugation of the Seri — an essay involv-
ing the first and last actual attempt to found a Caucasian establishment
within Seriland proper. The ecclesiastical corps, sent out from Quer6-
taro college under the presidency of Fray Mariano Antonio de Buena
y Alcalde, reached Soaora early in 1768, and were distributed among
the missions to which they were respectively assigned before the end of
June; and Fray Mariano participated in the efforts to subdue the Seri
ensconced in Oerro Prieto. After some months of apparently nominal
siege, the hostiles straggled out of their retreat, whereupon "the gov-
ernor, seeing them assembled and peaceful, besought the friar to instruct
and baptize them";' the friar promptly acquiesced, with the provision
that he should be furnished with the requisite appurtenances of a mis-
sion, including not only a church and sacred ornaments, but a house and
living for a resident minister. The requirements delayed procedure,
but resulted in the appointment of Fray Juan Crisostomo Gil de Ber-
nabe (already designated by the Queretaro college as Fray Mariano's
successor) to take charge of the Seri mission. "The new president,
desiring to gratify his proper zeal and the insistence of the gov-
ernor as to the need of those miserable Indians for- the bread of doc-
trinism", obtained candles and wine from private benefactors, and,
despite his inability to find even a hut for shelter, established a sanc-
tuary in the Eancheria de los Seris (Pueblo Seri) on November 17, 1772 :

It was impossible to satisfy the ambition of the missionaries to catechize all the
Indians, because, although the whole nation was peaceable, no small portion of
them were devoid of desire to hear doctrinism, as many of them had withdrawn to
their ancient larking haunts, principally on Isla Tiburon, whence they came to the
Presidio Horcasitas, making false displays to the governor of great fidelity and
obedience, petitioning that they should not be taken from the island, but should be
given a minister to baptize them the same as those at Pitio ; and they did not wish
to join those nor to leave the rocky fastness of their libertinage and asylum of their
crimes. ... To conceal their purposes, they petitioned that a town for them
should be established on the opposite coast, where they might assemble on leaving
the island. Their request was embarassing because on examination of the coast
there was found only a single scanty spring in a carrizal in a playa-like country
[toda la tierra corao de playa], with little fuel and no timber.

Not unnaturally Fray Crisostomo hesitated to locate a mission on the
practically uninhabitable site, in which, moreover, "the mission would
be of no utility because the Indians did not really wish to leave their
island and submit to religious instruction, nor could the coast supply the
necessary food, as it was a barren sand-waste, so that it would become

' CriSnica Serifica y Apostfilioa del Colegio de Propaganda Fide de la Santa Cruz de Quer6taro en
ia Nueva SspaBa. . esorita por el Padre Fray Juan Domingo Arrioivita, 2" parte, Mexico,

1793, p. 426.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VI

RECENTLY OCCUPIED RANCHERIA, TIBURON ISLAND

TYPICAL HOUSE INTERIOR, TIBURON ISLAND

MCGEE] THE FRANCISCAN MISSION 1772 81

necessary for the Kiug to constantly supply provisions, else the converts
would have a pretext for wandering around and avoiding attention to
the catechism." But the governor was obdurate, and only complained
to the viceroy and the Quer(5taro college. Between fires, Pray Crisos-
tomo yielded, and on November 26, 1772, proceeded to Garrizal and
established himself as a minister, without company or escort save a
little boy to serve as acolyte. "With the aid of the Indies Tiburones
the friar erected a jacal for hut bower] ' to serve as a church, and a tiny
hut as a habitation, and began immediately,' with the greatest kindness,
to convoke the people for religious instruction, only to see that the
desires they had expressed to the governor to become Christians were
not deep enough to bring them from their island to attend services —
except a few who came and took part in the prayers when they thought
fit. But as the congregation at the place was only nominal, and with
only three jacales under control, so also was the instruction they
sought; and because of both the condition of the land and their wan-
dering instinct, which is in them almost a necessity and more excusable
than in other Indians, because neither within their island nor on the
coast is bhe territory fit for cultivation, and still less for the stability
essential to civil and political life", the missionary naturally despaired
of substantial progress;' indeed, "the only fruit for which he could
hope, under his mode of living, was reduced either to a child or an
adult whom he could, in special circumstances, shrive in extremis." In
this disheartening condition the friar spent the winter from near the
end of November to March 6, 1773. Then, as appears from an official
declaration, there came to him by night an Indian called Yxquisis,
with a trumpery tale about a revolt on the part of the Piato and
Apache, which led the guileless friar away from the poor shelter of
his jacal under the guidance of the Indian. At the inquest Yxquisis
confessed, although with many falsehoods ("con muchas mentiras"!,
that he had stoned the friar, but "without stating any motive for com-
mitting such an atrocious crime ". Yet even before the story reached
Horcasitas two "Indies del Tiburon", supposed to be imijlicated, were
beaten to death with sticks on the spot in which the friar's body was
found, ^ and the body was buried by a chief of the tribe. And so ended
the mission of Garrizal in the land of the Seri.

Traditions of this Franciscan mission still linger about Hermosillo
and at Rancho San Francisco de Costa Rica, and they, like Arricivita's
account, indicate that the churchly jacal was planted either hard by
Pozo Escalante or at a traditional Ojito Carrizal (Aguaje Parilla, not
found in the surveys of 1895), supposed to lie a few miles farther north-
westward. All the probabilities point to Pozo Escalante as the site,
despite the fact that no cane now grows there ; the topographic
description applies exactly, while the state of the padre's remains,

'Doubtleas the structures approached the conventional Seri pattern, illustrated in the accompany-
ing plate VI, from photographs taken on Tiburon in 1895.
2 Arrioivita. op. cit., pp. 426-429, 520-524.
• ] 7 ETH 6

82 THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.anh.IT

when exhumed six months later, attests the dry and saline soil in this
vicinity, l^one of these conditions exist about Aguaje Parilla at the
southeastern base of Sierra Seri. The present absence of living carrizal
at Pozo Bscalante is of little significance, since the extinction of the
plant might easily have been wrought either by the stock of later expe-
ditions or by the rise of the salt-water horizon accompanying the local
subsidence of the land; certainly dried roots and much- weathered
fragments of cane still remain about the margin of the jjlaya extending
southward from the well.

The episode culminating in the assassination of Pray Oris6stomo
was characteristic : beset at all iioints and rankling under the invasion
of their range, the Seri sought anew to delude the governor with
fair words, using their own reprobates and apostates at Pitic and else-
where to point their asseverations; and remembering the facility with
which the earlier ecclesiastics were duped into unwitting allies, they
made the kindly and long- suffering friars the immediate object of their
petitions. But some of the tribe galled under the lengthy and still
lengthening bloodfeud too deeply to tolerate the alien presence; and
one of these, either alone or supported by the alleged accomplices or
others, tried a typical ruse, suggested less by need than inherited
habit; for the friar was helpless in their hands, and might have been
slain in his jacal as easily as in the open. Typically, too, the assassina-
tion initiated or deepened factional dissension and further bloodshed.

The Franciscan records are of even less ethnologic use than those of
the Jesuits. Beyond his incidental expressions concerning Seri char-
acter and custom in connection with the founding and abandonment of
Carrizal, it need only be noted that Arricivita makes hardly a refer-
ence to the Tepoka, but habitually combines the " Seris y Piatos " —
the latter perhaps representing the "confederate Pima" of "Eudo
Ensayo", or the Soba occupying the lower reaches of Rio San Ignacio
about that time.

Among the meager and scattered Franciscan records is a letter from
Fray Francisco Troncoso, dated September 18, 1824, which is of note
as containing an estimate of the Seri population at the time:

TMs island [Tiburon] has more than a thousand savage inhabitants, enemies of
those of California, and it has frequently occurred that, on balsas of reeds, . .
they have crossed over to invade the mission [of Loreto], killing and robbing some
of those they found there.' «

The record is of value also as indicating that the Seri traversed the
gulf freely, and raided settlements and tribes of the peninsula ruth-
lessly as those of the mainland.

The Carrizal episode was followed by a half century of comparative
silence concerning the Seri, though various contemporary records and
later compilations indicate customary continuance of the Seri wars.

' Incorporated in Eaoudero, Notioias Estadisticaa do Sonora y Sinaloa ; Mexioo, 1849, p. 18.

M«sEE] SLAUGHTER OF THE SERI — 1780 83

Among the more useful compilations is that of Yelasco; and among the
more important episodes noted by him was the Cimarrones-Migueletes
war of 1780.' The Cimarrones included the greater part of the Seri
of Tiburon and the Tepoka (then estimated at 2,000 of both sexes),^ to-
gether with the "Pimas called Piatos, of the pueblos of Oavorca, Tubu-
tama, Oquitoa, etc", and supposedly \iertain other representatives of the
Pima and Apache, who had shortly before marauded Magdalena and
sacked Saric, killing a dozen persons;^ the Migueletes were national
troops assigned to Sonora under the command of Colonel Domingo Eli-
zondo. The forces met in several bloody battles in Cerro Prieto, at
Jupanguaimas, and at Presidio "V'iejo ; and the former, or at any rate
the Seri, were once more "annihilated" (" reducidos a nulidad"). Never-
theless, the hydra-headed tribe retained enough vitality in 1807 to
induce Governor Alejo Garcia Oonde to send an army of a thousand
men to Guaymas, en route to Tiburon, to repeat the extirpation — though
the expedition came to naught for international reasons.

Among the more useful contemporary records is an unpublished
manuscript report by Don Jos6 Cortez, dated 1799, found in the Force
library, translated by Buckingham Smith, and abstracted by Lieuten-
ant A. W. Whipple for the Eeport of the Pacific Eailway Survey. A
subsection of this report is devoted to "the Seris, Tiburones, and
Tepocas ". It runs :

The Seri Indians live towards the coast of Sonora, on the famous Cerro Prieto, and
in its immediate neighborhood. They are cruel and sanguinary, and at one time
formed a. numerous band, which committed many excesses in that rich province.
With their poisoned shafts they took the lives of many thousand inhabitants, and
rendered unavailing the expedition that was set on foot against them from Mexico.
At this time they are reduced to a small number; have, on many occasions, been
successfully encountered by our troops ; and are kept within bounds by the vigi-
lance of the three posts (jareaidios) established for the purpose. None of their cus-
toms approach, at all, to those of civilization; and their notions of religion aud
marriage exist under barbarous forms, such as have before been described in treating
of the most savage nations. The Tiburon and Tepoea Indians are a more numerous
tribe, and worthy of greater consideration than the Seris, but their bloodthirsty
disposition and their customs are the same. They ordinarily live on the island of
Tiburon, which is connected with the coast of Sonora by a narrow inundated isth-
mus, over which they pass by swimming when the tide is up, aud when it is down,
by wading, as the water then only reaches to the waist, or not so high. They come
onto the continent, over which they make their incursions, and, after the commis-
sion of robberies, they return to the island; on which account no punishment
usually follows their temerity. It is naw twenty-three or twenty-four years since
the plan was approved by His Majesty, and ordered to be carried out, of destroying
them on their island; but, until the present season, no movement has been made to

> Koticias Estadisticas del Estado de Sonora; Mexico, 1850, p. 124 et seq.

'Ibid., p. 132.

* Bancroft, op. cit., vol. II, p. 682. It is incredible that such a confederation of so incongruous elements
could ever have been effected ; it is Incomparably more probable that there was a succession of out-
breaks of the Seri, Piato, and Apache, each stimulated by the removal of soldiers for defense against
the other enemies, just as Seri outrages follow Taqul outbreaks today ; but It was undoubtedly a
custom of the times (a custom still existing) to connect the several enemies in current thought and
speech.

84 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.anh.17

put it into execution. To this end the troops of Sonora are being equipped ; a cor-
vette of the department of San Bias aids in the expedition and two or three vessels
of troops from the companies stationed at the port of that name on the South sea.-

The record is significant as voicing an ill-founded discrimination of
the wandering Seri from the inhabitants of Tiburon, as echoing per-
sistent conception of Tiburon as a peninsula, and as summarizing the
characteristics of the tribe recognized at the end of the last century.

Meantime population and industries increased, while civil and mill
tary development pursued its course; the Presidio of Pitic expanded
into a pueblo, and later into the city which gradually adopted the cog-
nomen of General Jose Maria Gonzalez Hermosillo, a hero of Sonora in
the stirring times of 1810-1812; Pueblo Seri became Mexicanized,
retaining only a few Seri families in 1811, according to Manuel Cabrera;^
Guaymas grew into a port of some commercial note; pearl fishing pro-
gressed along the coast and prospecting in the interior; despite con-
stant harrying by Seri raids, the raucho of Bacuachito (probably the
Bacoachizo of Escudero^) became a flourishing pueblo; and plans for
ports in the northern gulf were broached and even tested. Moreover,
the dawn of the nineteenth century stirred scientific interest in the
native tribes, including the obstinate owners of Tiburon — an interest
stimulated by Humboldt's American journeys of 1803.

Combining earlier cartography (originating with Kino) and persist-
ent tradition up to the beginning of the nineteenth century, Humboldt
mapped "Isla de Tiburon" nearly a degree too far northward, and
separated from the mainland by a greatly exaggerated strait. The land
portion of the map is strikingly defective, revealing in numerous imag-
inary mesas the author's penchant for Mexican plateaus, while "Eio
Hiaqui" ("de Yaqui ou de Sonora" in the text) is combined with Rio
Sonora and given an intermediate position, and "Eio de la Ascencion"
(Eio San Ignacio) is represented as passing through an estuary into the
gulf just off the northern end of Tiburon; the "Indiens Seris" being
located on a flgmentary mesa north of the latter river and due west of
Caborca, Pitic (apparently a composite of San Diego de Pitic, or modern
Pitiquito, with San Pedro de Pitic, or modern Hermosillo), and Altar.*
His text corresponds :

On the right bank of Rio de la Asencion live some very bellicose Indians, the Seris,
to whom many Mexican savants ascribe an Asiatic origin by reason of the analogy
offered by their name with that of the Seri located by the ancient geographers at
the base of the Ottorocorras mountains."

' Reports of Bxploratione and Surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economical Route for a
Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Paoifio Ocean, vol. ill, part 3 : Report upon the Indian
Tribes, 1855, pp. 122-123. The original Cortez manuscript is now in the Library of Congress.

=In Yelasco, op. cit., p. 137.

^Noticias Bstadisticas de Sonora y Sinaloa, Compiladas y Amplificadaa para la Comislon de Esta-
distica Militar, por el Lie. D. Jos6 Agustin de Esondero ; Mexico, 1849, p. 88.

^ Atlas G6ographiqu6 et Physique du Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne, par Al. de Humboldt;
Paris, 1811, carte g6n6rale.

= Voyage de Humboldt et Bonplanrt, troisi^me partie: Essai Politique sar le Royaume de la
Nouvelle-Espagne, tomeii Paris, 1811, pp. 296-297.

MCGKEi hardy's explorations — 1826 85

Naturally most of tbe scieutiflc inquiries of the time were, like those
of Humboldt, based on tradition rather than on direct observation.

Toward the end of the first third of the century an important con-
tribution to actual knowledge of Seriland and the Seri at last grew
out of the pearl industry. In May, 1825, Lieutenant E. W. H. Hardy,
R. N., was commissioned by the " General Pearl and Ooral Fishery
Association of London " to investigate the pearl fisheries of the Cali-
fornian gulf; and his task was performed with promptness and energy.
On February 13, 1826, he visited Pitic (under Hermosillo) :

Half a league short [south] of it ia another small place, called the Puehlo tie los
C6res, inhabited by a squalid race of Indians who are said to indulge in constant
habits of intemperance and to have lost the fire of the warrior. In its stead they
manifest the sullen stupidity peculiar to those who, feeling themselves unfitted for
companionship, strive to vent their pusillauimousrage upon objects the most helpless
and unoffending, such as women, children, and dogs, who appear to be the chief
victims of their revenge. '

His chief object in visiting Pitic was to obtain information concern-
ing Tiburon, its natives, and its pearl-oyster beds ; and he was rewarded
with characteristic accounts of the ferocity of the tribesmen and their
use of poisoned arrows, which he received with some incredulity.''*

After examining the i)rincipal pearl fisheries of the western coast,
Lieutenant Hardy reached the "Sal si Puedes" iu the throat gf the
gulf, and, on August 9, " got aslant of wind, which carried us up to
the northwest end of Tiburow island'" — i. e., apparently over the pre-
cise route sailed by Padre Ugarte in 1721. Anchoring on the island,
he had the good fortune first to meet a native able to speak Spanish,
and later to successfully treat the sick wife of the principal chief, after
which he was treated with great consideration, and — unwittingly on
his part — adopted into the tribe as a member of the chief clan by the
ceremony of face painting, the symbol being that of the turtle totem, to
judge from the superficial description. Taking slightly brackish water,
just as Ugarte had done one hundred and five years before, and arm-
ing his crew, he spent the night near the rancheria (evidently in Bahia
Agua Dulce). Ifext morning he " traveled over the greater part of the
island" (!) in fruitless search for pearls and gold, and in the afternoon
" got under weigh, and stood into a bay of the continent to the northeast
of the island," discovering and naming " Sargent's Point", together with
"Cockle Harbour", and "Bruja's bay" in the lee of the point, and also
"Arnold's Island"; this island being apparently the present prominent
cuspof Punta Sargent, iiow connected with the mainland by a continu-
ous wave-built bar rising a little way above reach of tide. Anchoring
in the bay named from his vessel [La -Briya),he examined tlie adjacent
shore, ascertaining that "there is no fresh water near the spot, except

'Travels in the Interior of Mexico in 1825, 1826, 1827, and 1828; London, 1829, p. 95.
2 Ibid., p. 107.

sibid., p. aso.

86 THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

during the rainy season, which only lasts about a month or six weeks",
nor " any vestige of Indians to be seen except a solitary hut erected by
the Tiburons to serve them when they go there to fish " ; and, noting the
report that Padre Kino had visited this point, he quite appositely ques-
tioned the truth of the tradition, partly on the ground of the absence
of fresh water, partly because "the Tepoca Indian establishment "men-
tioned in the tradition "is many leagues farther to the northward."
Awakened by an approaching storm, he was under way next morning
at daylight, and, getting out of the "bad holding ground", was caught
by a gale and carried back to his "old anchorage in Freshwater Bay",
where he found the Indians rejoicing oyer the success of a ceremonial
incantation to which they ascribed his return. Th€| reconnaissance map
is ill-drawn, locating "Fresh Water B." on the mainland side and appar-
ently combining "Sargent's Point" and "Arnold's Island" as "Sar-
gents I." ; " San Miguel Pt." is properly located, and idealized route lines
traverse the " Canal peligroso de San Miguel" (El Inflernillo), which is
of greatly exaggerated width. The careful itinerary shows, however,
that Hardy scarcely entered this strait, and made but three or four
anchorages in the vicinity — i. e., in Bahia Agua Dulce, in Bahia Bruja,
probably in Cockle harbor (or " Cochla Inlet"), and finally off Isla Patos.
Hardy's notes on the Indians are first hand, and hence of exceptional
value. He says :

The Indians on the island of Tiburon are very stout, tall, and well-built fellows,
exceedingly like the Twelchii tribe of Indians in Patagonia, and with a language
80 like theirs that I imagined I was transported back into those wild regions. They
by no means look so ferocious as they are represented, and there is something
peculiarly mild in the countenances of the females. Their dress is a sort of blanket,
extending from the hips to the knees. But most of the old women have this part of
the body covered with the skins of the eagle, having the feathers turned towards the
flesh. The upper part of the body is entirely exposed, and their hair is dressed on
the top of the head in a knot which greatly sets off the effect of their painted faces.
The men use bows and stone-pointed arrows ; but whether they are poisoned I do
not know. They use likewise a sort of wooden mallet called Macdna, for close quar-
ters in war. They have a curious weapon which they employ for catching fish. It
is a spear with a double point, forming an angle of about 5 degrees. The insides of
these two points, which are 6 inches long, are jagged; so that when the body of a
fish is forced between them it can not get away on account of the teeth. • ^

He saw "about fifteen or twenty canoes made of three long bamboo
bundles fastened together", and observed .that, when engaged in turtle
fishing, the Indian " paddles himself from the shore on one of these by
means of a long elastic pole of about 12 or 14 feet in length, the wood
of which is the root of a thorn called mesquite, growing near the coast",
this pole serving also as a harpoon shaft, provided with a harpoon head
and cord, such as those still in use. Respecting the invocatory appur-
tenances, he says:

My attention was directed by the old women to a pile of bushes outside the hut,
which had a staff of about 5 feet in length sticking up through the center. From

' Op. cit.„ p. 289-290.

MoeEE] hardy's explorations 1826 87

the upper end of the staff was suspended by a cord 12 or 14 inches long a round
stone ball, and to this ball was fastened another string furnished with bits of cork,
surrounded with small feathers stuck into them at the distance of about 3 inches
apart: the'only use of the stone ball being to prevent the wind from blowing out
horizontally the string which was furnished with feathers. . . . Upon examin-
ing the bushy pile, I discovered a wooden figure with a carved hat, and others of
different shapes and sizes, as well also as leathern bags, the contents of which I was
not permitted to explore.'

He also meutions that " in their festivities the Indians wear the head
(with the horns on) " of the bura or mule deer. He adds :

It is believed that the C^res Indians have discovered a method of poisoning their
arrows, and that they do it in this way : They kill a cow and take from it its liver.
They then collect a number of rattlesnakes, scorpions, centipedes, and tarantulas,
which they confine in a hole with the liver. The next process is to beat them with
sticks in order to enrage them, and being thus infuriated, they fasten their fangs
and exhaust their venom upon each other and upon the liver. When the whole
mass is in a high state of corruption the old women take the arrows and pass their
points through it. They are then allowed to dry in the shade, aud it is said that a
wound inflicted by them will prove fatal. Others again say that the poison is
obtained from the juice of the yerba de la fi^cha (arrow wort)."

He purchased some of the arrows, which were stone-tipped, and had
" certainly had an unguent applied to them".

He was impressed by indications of family affection, and noted the
custom of having two. wives. Concerning tribal relations he says:

These people have been always considered extremely ferocious, and there is little
doubt, from their brave and warlike character, that they may formerly have devas-
tated a great part of the country ; but in modern days their feuds are nearly con-
fined to a neighboring tribe of the same name as themselves (C(?res), who speak
the same language and in all probability originally descended from the same stock.
They are said to be inferior to those of this island both in courage and stature, and
they are never suffered to cross the channel. From what I was told « » " the
Tiburow CiSres have lately returned from a sanguinary war with the T6poca C6res,
in which the former were victorious.''

Later in his itinerary Hardy noted a typical Yaqui revolution, with
a characteristic effort to secure the cooperation of the Seri.'' He defined
the Seri habitat as "the island of Tiburow, the coast of Tepoca, and the
pueblo of Los G6res, near Pitic";^ and he estimated the population at
"3,000 or 4,000 at the very utmost",^ and quoted the estimate of Don
Jos6 Maria Betio, viz, that the Seri population of Tiburon was 1,000
to IjSOO.'^

Like most of those visitors to the Seri who have returned to tell their
tale. Hardy "praised the bridge that carried him over" and gave the
tribe passable character — worse, of course, than that of any other, yet
hardly so bad as painted at Pi tic.

A noteworthy traveler in western America during 1840-1842 was
M. Duflot de Mofras, an attache of the French legation in Mexico. He

I Op. cit., pp. 294-295. <Ibld.,p.395etseq. ' Ibid., pp. 235, 540.

= Ibi(l. pp., 298,299. "Ibid., p. 437.

sibid., pp. 299, 300. "Ibid., p. 438.

88 THE SERI INDIANS [ETn.ANN.l7

traversed the Californias aud entered Sonora, and Vhile he failed to
see Seriland, he made a note on the tribe, valuable as a current esti-
mate of the population :

At the gates of the city of Hermosillo is established a Mission which contains 500
Seri Indians; 1,000 of them inhabit the coast to the north of Guaymas and tie du
Requin (Isla del Tiburon).'

The next noteworthy espisode in the external history of the Seri
chronicled in the civil records of Sonora culminated in 1844. "The
above-named Seris, although their number never became important,
did not abandon their propensity to revolt, and, while they never rose
en masse, made many factional uprisings. Ultimately . . . they dis-
played such boldness, robbing ranches, assassinating all they encoun-
tered, assaulting on the roads arrieros and other travelers", that a
considerable force was sent against them from Hermosillo under the
direction of Captain Victor Araiza. It was planned to support this
land force by a sea party from Guaymas, but delays and misunder-
standings caused the practical abandonment of the plan. ^ Tiring of
the delay, Araiza "declared war on the Indians, surprising them on
Punta del Carrizal, killing 11, including several innocent women and
children", aud taking 4 captives of from 1 to 11 years in age; where-
upon the army returned to Hermosillo.^

Disapproving- of this undignified and inhuman crusade, the acting
governor. General Francisco Ponce de Leon, planned a still more
vigorous campaign by land and sea for the purpose of capturing the
entire tribe and transporting them to Pueblo Seri, where a few of
their kin were still harbored.' The command was intrusted to Colonel
Francisco Andrade, who took personal charge of the land force, includ-
ing 160 infantry from Guaymas, 60 infantry and 30 cavalry from
Hermosillo, and considerable corps from Horcasitas and Altar. The
naval auxiliary, in charge of Don Tom4s Bspence,^ pilot, comprised a
schooner of 12 tons; two launches, one carrying a 4-pound cannon and
the other a 2-pound falconet; and one rowboat. On August 11, 1844,
Espence sailed from Guaymas, and six days later cast anchor at the
embarcadero (apparently a convenient place on the coast of Bahia Kino
due west of Pozo Bscalante — the Embarcadero Andrade of figure 1)
opposite Tiburon. Andrade marched from Hermosillo August 13,

• Exploration du Territoire de l'Or6gon, des Califomiea et de la Mer Vermeille, ex6cut6e pendant
lea anniea 1840, 1841 et 1842, tome i ; Paris, 1844, p. 214.

"Velasco, Noticiaa Estadlstjcas, pp. 124, 125. This chronicle is rendered peculiarly valuable by
supplements in the form of Andrade's and Bspence's Journals, the latter incorporated (p. 125) after
Velaaco's own writing was completed. The whole was revised, extended, and republished in the
several volumes of the first series of Bol. Soo. Mex. Geog. y Estad., 1861-1866.

*0n August 14. 1844, Secretary Manuel Cabrera reported that *'ther6 are in this pueblo not more
than fifteen families of Ceris located within its borders, maintaining themselves by the manufacture
of earthen oUas and by the garbage of their neighbors, i. e., In time of harvest they glean the wheat
and corn left scattered, and the bones, entrails, and hoofs of the stock slaughtered for consumption by
the inhabitants." (Incorporated in Velasoo, op. cit., p. 138.)

*Thomaa Spence, of Guaymas; apparently the "Mr. Spence" meutioned favorably by Hardy
(Travela, p. 90).

MCQEE] ANDRADE'S expedition — 1844 89

reached Oarrizal August 16, and had detachments at the coast to meet
the squadron the next day. Both the vessels and this detachment
were out of water, and next morning Bspence, taking a few soldiers
and an Indian guide, made his way to Tiburon in search of springs;
but "on arriving it turned out that the Indian had deceived the party
or did not wish to reveal the water." Nevertheless they landed, and
Espence hoisted the Mexican flag, " taking possession of the island in
the name of the Mexican G-overnment, as the first civilized person to
touch the soil." Afterward he divided his force, and he and the
sailors wandered far, spending the entire day in vain search for
water. Toward evening he "made the men wade into the sea up to
their necks, and iu this manner mitigated somewhat their burning
thirst." Meantimethe soldiers had traveled inland some 6 or 8 miles,
and found water at the head of an arroyo (apparently a temporary
tinaja west of Punta Narragansett), but it was surrounded by Indians,
who at once gave battle. Such was their thirst that the soldiers
held their ground, drinking one at a time under the protection of
their comrades. At length they killed two chiefs (one of whom wore a
jacket taken from one Hijar, robbed on the Cienega road a few days
before), and succeeded in withdrawing to a sinay eminence and shel-
tering themselves behind a rock. Later they effected a retreat without
loss, and of course without water, so that they arrived at the shore
even thirstier than the sailors. Making their way back to the main-
land during the night, the party were relieved the following day by
mule-loads of water sent over from Oarrizal. On August 20 Colonel
. Andrade marched to the coast with most of his, force, leaving a detach-
ment to guard the route; and the next day Espence transported to the
island 125 troops, 16 horses, and some mules and cattle, without other
accident than the drowning of a inule and a steer "by the strength of
the current". Suffering much from thirst, the troops pressed inland to
the watering-place already discovered, where they camped. The next
day Colonel Andrade, with Lieutenant Jesus Garcia, worked north-
ward, finding another watering-place (doubtless Tinaja Anita) 3J
leagues distant from the first; and this was made headquarters for the
force. Several parties were sent out in search of water and Indians.
A few watering-places were found, and a number of women and children
with a few men were captured, though the journals indicate that the
excursions were of limited extent only. Meantime Espence brought
over the baggage and provisions; and on August 24, leaving a launch
and a rowboat for the use of the troops, he sailed northward through
the strait, and three days later, after passing many bars of sand, entered
the bay at the extreme north (Bahia Agua Dulce), opposite Punta
Tepopa, finding sharks swarming in thousands. Here he found fresh
water 250 paces from the beach — the water which sustained Hardy
eighteen years before, and Ugarte over a century earlier still. He
found no Indians here, but a number of jacales and balsas (which he

90 THE SERI INDIANS ,[bth.ann.17

immediately burned), as well as bones and other remains of horses.'
On August 28 and 29 Espence skirted the abrupt and rocky coasts
of Tiburon, west and south of the northern bay, without seeing
trace of natives; on the 30th he reached the western bay, where
he found huts and fresh tracks, and captured a woman disabled by
snake-bite. Farther down the bay he encountered a considerable
party, who first prepared to attack, and then, overawed by his bold
front, sued for peace; whereupon he accepted their submission, and
sent them with a letter to Colonel Andrade. This affair concluded,
and escaping currents so contrary that he was nearly locoed ("por
las corrientes encontradas que me volvian loco"),^ he coasted south-
ward; and on September 1, at the southwestern point of the island,
he found another rancheria, and made peaceful conquest of the occu-
pants, whom he also sent with a letter to Andrade. Thence he coasted
eastward, and, on September 3, returned to his starting point,* " hav-
ing navigated the island in the period of nine days, having in this
time burned 64 huts and 97 balsas, and reduced to peace 104 Indians
with their families." The next day he transported the captives to
the mainland, "their number, comprising men, women, and children,
reaching 384, besides about 37 remaining at large on the island." = On
September 6 the remaining troops were transferred to the mainland,
with the exception of a small detachment, which remained for an
unspecified, but evidently short period, in the vain hope of corraling
the warriors, with the families to which they belonged, supposed
(on grounds not given) to remain on the island. The troops and their
captives immediately moved to Laguna de los Cercaditos (probably
Laguna la Cruz) to rejoin the cavalry guard; thence, suffering much
from thirst, they marched toward Hermosillo, arriving at that place
September 12,'' where the troops and captives formed a triumphal pro-
cession, met on the highroad by the merchants and the civil and mill
tary authorities, and greeted by the ringing of bells and the firing of
rockets, and with music and refreshments.

• The expressiODs of the journal indicate that Espence was not familiar with the Seri custom of
eviscerating and quartering stolen stock, consuming the entrails at once, and transporting the more
suhstantial pieces across the sti'ait on their balsas. Velasco fell into still further error in assuming
that the expressions relate to tracks and other indications of the presence of living stock on the
island.

2 Velasco, op. cit., p. 168.

^Ihid., p. 169. On the same page Espence classifies the captives as 6 oldsters ("vlejos de sesenta
alios arriba"), 12 beldames ("viejas de cuarenta arriba"), 1 blind, 1 idiotic boy, 5 cripples male, 1
cripple female, 180 women, 160 children, and 144 men — 510 in all. Andrade's report euumeratea the
captives as 120 in each of two lots, with 20 or more in a third, making 260 odd (ibid., p. 180) ; while
Velasco put the number at 200 and odd (" docientas y tentas persones *'), men, women, and children,
including only 30 odd oldsters and warriors combined. The discrepancies are characteristic, and
of a piece with those prevailing in the same latitude and lougitude today: e. g., Velasco says there
are but four waters on the island, Espence says there are eight or ten, and Andrade implies that there
are many ; Velasco says there were 160 troops from G-uaymas, while Andrade mentions only 80 ; Espence
says that in transporting the stock (as noted above) but one mule was drowned by the strength of the
current, while Andrade eays that a mule and a steer were lost on account of the bad storm which
prevailed during the day; yet there is such agreement between dates and facts in the independent
journals of Andrade and Espence as to establish general verity despite the provincial weakness
concerning details.

4 According to Andrade (ibid., p. 182) i Velasco says September 16 (ibid,, p. 126) .

MfGEE] SECOND CIRCUMNAVIGATION — 1814 91

The captives were imprisoned over night in the mint, the children
weeping, the women chattering angrily or humbly, and the men sulk-
ing. Next day the Hermosillenos began distributing the children among
themselves, some families taking three and many two, while the adults
were transferred to Pueblo Seri, placed in charge of a single keeper,
and set to gathering fuel, etc. Naturally this unstable status did not
long persist; "within two months they began to disappear, fleeing to
their respective and native haunts, stealing and carrying with them
the children from whom they had been separated"; ' and, according to
Espence, they committed "many murders on the Pitic and Guaimas
roads" as they returned to Tiburon.^

While the Tiburon captives were escaping, the campaigning con-
tinued; and, in November, 1844, several Seri families, comprising 63
men, women, and children, who had been scavengering Eancho del
Burro ("manteni^ndose alii 4 merced de los desperdicios de dicho
rancho"),^ were captured and transported to the mint at Hermosillo,
and soon afterward transferred to Pueblo Seri. During the same
month a report came from Eancho del Pocito, on the Guaymas road,
that Seri marauders (assumed to belong to the 16 families left on the
island) had killed 10 head of stock; and a detachment of 15 cavalry
was sent to inflict punishment. Early in December this party met a
Seri force of over seventy warriors, including some of those captured
on Tiburon and escaped from Pueblo Seri; after a battle of four hours
the troops found their ammunition exhausted, several of their carbines
out of order, and all but four or five of their horses winded; so that
they were driven to parley with the Indians and to procure their surren-
der by pacific means — especially promises of good treatment.'' Subse-
quently a m^inicipal commission from Hermosillo reminded the defeated
Seri of their surrender, and "three, four, or eight" of them presented
themselves ("presentdndose tres, cuatro ii ocho hombres"), and were
probably added to the colony at Pueblo Seri.

Espence's journal clearly indicates a complete circumnavigation of
Tiburon, the second in history (that of Ugarte in 1721 being the first);
and naturally some of his notes' are of ethnologic value:

The Ceris Indians are tall, well formed, not very corpulent; the women are
remarkable for small breasts and feet and high insteps.. At night they travel ill;
this is to be attributed to the reflection of the sun on the sand, which is quite white,
and as they all live on the shore where they gain sustenance, which is fish and plank-
ton [marisco], they are daily exposed to a glare which injures their vision. Their
favorite food is turtles and horses. . . . They are all in the most savage condi-
tion it is possible to conceive. Their language is guttural, and they are most iilthy
in their persons, as in their food, which is mostly eaten raw, or at the best half

' Velasco, Noticiaa Estadisticaa, p. 127.

2Ibid., p. 170.

sibid., p. 128.

4Ibid., p. 129. This naive recital is far from unique among tlie chronicles of conquest over tlio Seri.
All of the records recount victories more or less brilliant, even when there are strong indications
between lines that the Caucasians were outnumbered, outfought, forced from the field, and even
driven into the protection of the pueblos. The Seri side of the story has never been told.

92 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

cooked; they endure a thousand miseries on the island, yet the love they have for it
is incredible. They are always accompanied by innumerable dogs, . . . which
they have domesticated. '

Velasco adds:

The Ceris subsist on fish, the seeds of grass, and coastwise shrubs, as well as on
the flesh of horses and deer, which they kill. There is no better proof of this fact
than this— on approaching the said Ceris, one instantly perceives that their bodies
exhale an intolerable stench, like that of a corpse of eight or more days, totally rot-
ten, so that it is necessary to withdraw far as possible from tTiem. ^

Of all the Indian tribes known in Sonorn., none are more barbarous and uncivilized
than the Ceris. They are perverse to the limit, vicious beyond compare in drunken-
ness, infinitely filthy, the bitterest enemies of the wliites, like the worst of the
Indians. '

He adds also that the men wear a pelican-skin robe and a breechcloutof
cotton cloth, with most of the body uncovered ; " they have their faces
painted or barred with prominent black lines. They use no foot-fear of
any kind, and many have the nasal septum pierced and adorned with
pieces of greenstone or ordinary glass." " They are robust in stature,
tall and straight, generally with bright black eyes. The women are not
uncomely, and of bronzy color [de color abronzado]. Their clothing
is made of pelican skins fastened together, retaining the feathers; with
this they are covered from the waist downward", the remainder of the
body being bare. The women of Hermosillo provide them with cast off
garments when they approach the city, and these they wear, unwashed,
until they fall to pieces. " The said tribe, in addition to being the vilest
and most brutal known in the country, are preeminently treacherous
and traitorous, so that forty of their outbreaks maybe counted during
the efforts to reduce them to civilized life." At the time of the Gimar-
rones outbreak, the Seri of Tiburon and Tepoka numbered 2,000;
"today [about 1846 or 1847], counting the 259, which are all that
inhabit Tiburon and the most that can be presented, including the
Tepoka Seri [los Ceris Tepocas], who have always been much fewer,
their whole number will not amount to 500 persons of all sexes and
ages, and the warriors can not exceed 00 or 80 at the most." The Seri ,
are not polygamous, though apparently promiscuous {" se nota en sus
matrimonios mucha tolerancia miitamente"). They "adore the moon,
which they venerate and respect as a deity ; when they see the new
moon, they kneel and make obeisance; they kiss the earth and make a
thousand genuHections, beating their breasts."''

The remarkably vigorous expedition of Andrade and Espence
occurred within the memory of men still active, and naturally it lives
in tradition at Hermosillo and Bacuache, and among the ranchos lying
toward the border of Seriland; indeed, one of the two Mexicans
accompanying the 1895 expedition, .Don Ygnacio Lozania, retained
shadowy impressions of participating in an invasion of the island,
which could have been none other than that planned by Governor De

' Velaeoo, Noticias Estadlsticas, pp. 169-171. 2 Ibid., pp. 127-128.

'Ibid., p. 129. ' Ibid., pp. 131-133.

MCGEE] CLOSE OF THE CHRONICLES 1844 93

Leon and executed by Colonel Andrade. Yet it is not uncharacteristic
of Sonoran history that the wave of anti-Seri activity culminating in
1844 hardly outlasted its own breaking; certainly Bscudero, writing
less than five years later, declared of "la nacion Neri": "During
thirty-three years they have committed not a single act of hostility and
live in peace and perfect harmony with the Sonorenses." He added
that they occupied the islands of Tiburon and Tepoca (sic) and the
coasts of the gulf contiguous to Sonora and California, and from the
most remote antiquity had been known by the names of ''tiburones"
or ^'■seris". Describing Pueblo Seri, he observed: "It now contains
hardly a dozen aged Seris of both sexes " ; and he forecast the early
extinction of the tribe, since the people were incapable of abandoning
their independent and solitary existence.'

.Here ends, practically, the history of Pueblo Seri as a Seri settle-
ment, for, although one of the tribe survived for half a century and a
few others may have survived for a decade, the "aged Seris of both
sexes " melted away so rapidly as to leave no later record, and were
apparently never replaced by others. Briefly, the history of the j)ueblo
began with the establishment of a presidio or military iiost in 1741 in
the natural gateway and watering-place leading into the settled valleys
of the Opodepe and upper Sonora, for the sole purpose of protecting
the settlements against the wandering Seri, who used this typical
Sonora watergap as a way-station on forays bat never as a place of
residence. The history grew definite when the Jesuits obtained the
allotment of lands for the Seri and established for them a mission,
which was at the same time a place of catechizing for Seri neophytes,
a place of detention for Seri captives, a place of refuge for Seri weak-
lings, and a place of resort for Seri sneaks and spies. The history
proceeded with many vicissitudes, as the presidio was alternately
abandoned under Seri attacks and reoccupied when the attacks were
repulsed, and as the neophytes alternately escaped and suffered recap-
ture; the formal history waned in relative importance as the popula-
tion and interests of Pitic and afterward of Hermosillo waxed, and as
the lands originally allotted to the Seri were gradually taken and held
by Mexican settlers, and ended when the Seri tenure was formally
extinguished in 1844, as described by Cabrera and Velasco; and the
general history dropped into unimportance with the escape of Andrade's
captives, after temporary quartering on the legally established land-
holders and householders of the Mexicanized pueblo. " For a century
and a half the name of the pueblo has continually rp,ised and renewed
the assumption that it marks a site of aboriginal Seri habitation or
has played some other leading r61e in Seri history, and this assumption
has shaped opinion past and present; yet its error is clearly shown by
scrutiny of the historical records, as well as by collateral ethnologic
and archeologic evidence.

^ No'ticias Estadisticas, pp. 141-142.

94 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.it

Here may be said to end, too, the local chronicles of the Seri; for
although the state archives are crowded with charges, petitions, com-
missions, reports, and other papers pertaining to the irrepressible Seri;
although these materials have overflowed to Ciuda.d, Mexico, and even
to Washington, in oflScial documents both numerous and voluminous;
although Ddvila in 1894 increased Velasco's forty Seri wars to fifty ;
and although the weightiest events in the internal history of the Seri
have occurred since 1844, little attempt has latterly been made to
reduce the abundant daita to print.

The Mexican geographic knowledge of the time was surprisingly
vague, as is shown by the current maps, for example, the Tanner maps
which appeared in several editions : the 1846 edition recalls and evi-
dently reflects the Humboldtmap of the beginning of the century; -'E.
Ascencion" is represented as einbouohing through an estuary about
30° 20 ', with the "Seris Indians" north of its lower half-length and west
of "Pitic" and "Pt. del Alter"; Ures is located 3 or 4 miles southeast of
this fort, and "Eacuach" (the Bacuachito of the present) is 20 miles
farther southeastward. Neither Eio Sonora nor any of its important
branches are indicated, while "Pitic" is placed several times too far
from the coast and from Guaymas, in a featureless expanse of paper;
"Eio Hiaqui" is .shown as a branchless and conventional stream of a
single crescentic curvature, embouching in about the right latitude.
The coast of the gulf is distorted, and "Tiburon" is shown as an island
much too large and nearly a degree too far north, separated from the
mainland by a greatly exaggerated strait, with an elongated mesa
("Mt. del Picu") skirting the mainland coast — in short, the cartography
is largely traditional if not fanciful.'

The career of the Seri during the half century 1844-1894 is traceable
by aid of (1) unpublished documents, (2) published results of scientific
inquiries and surveys, and (3) personal reminiscences of men living on
the Seri frontier ; but in a summary touching only salient points the
first-named source may be passed over.

One of the first foreign visitors to follow Baron Humboldt in sys-
tematic inquiries concerning the aborigines of northwestern Mexico
was Henri Ternaux-Oompans ; his information, too, was secondhand
and remote, yet he correctly recognized Isla Tiburon as "inhabited
by the Seris, who have some huts also on the mainland".^

Later came Eduard Muhlenpfordt, an attache of a German commercial
company and later a Mexican state official, who traveled extensively and
wrote partly at first hand, though there is little indication of personal
acquaintance with Seriland or the Seri : he described " Bahia de San

•A Map of the United States of Mexico, as organized and defined by the several Acta of the Con-
gress of that Eopuhlic, constructed from a great variety of Printed and Manuscript Documents, by
H. S. Tanner. Third edition, 1846. The map in De Mofras (op. cit., atlas) is little better.

^Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, tome iii, 1842, p. 320 (cited by Busohmann, Die Spuren der
aztekischen Sprache im nordlichen Mexico und hoherc-n amerilcanischen Norden, in Abbandlunj^en
der Koniglichen Altademie der Wissenschafteu zn Berlin, aus dem Jahre 1854, zweiter Supplement
Band ; Berlin, 1859, p. 219).

'>"--om FIRST LINGUISTIC EECOKD — 1850 95

Juan Bautiata", with "the small island San Augustin" lying before it
(in such manner as to identify this islet with Isla Tassne), and located
"the large island Tiburon farther northward, opposite a mountainous
coast".' He added:

The waterless but cattle-stocked plains between tbe place Pitic ami the coast,
and thence up to the river Ascension, are inhabited by a meager remnant of the
Seri tribe, while on Tiburon island, opposite this coast, the Tiburones dwell. The
Seris were formerly very numerous, by far the fiercest of all the Indian tribes of
northern Mexico, and very warlike. Through ceaseless war with the Tiburones
and the troops from the Spanish presidios they are now nearly extinct.^

Elsewhere the Tiburones were characterized as enemies of the Seri,^
while the "Heris" tribe was enumerated as a branch of the "Pimas
Bajas" people. Herr Miihlenpfordt's characterization of the Seri and
the Tiburon islanders as enemies would appear to be groundless, yet
not wholly incomprehensible; in the first place, the earlier literature
indicates that the term Seri (Seris, Ceris, Heris, etc.) was an alien
designation of lax application,'' doubtless extended occasionally or
habitually to marauding nomads, regardless of afiQnity; again there is
conclusive evidence that in many instances Seri convert-captives
attached to the missions and pueblos were often regarded as tribal
apostates and outlaws whose lives were forfeit; and, moreover, the
region in which Herr Muhlenpfordt gained his information was and
still is one of abounding tale, whose frequent exaggeration and not in-
freciuent invention conceal and distort the simple facts.

In 1850, Don Diiego Lavandera transmitted to the Mexican Society
of Geography and Statistics, through the hands of Seiior Jose F.
Ramirez, certain documents, accompanied by a note to the effect that
"The tribe of the Seris speak Arabic, and it is understood by the Moors
at the first interview" — this note merely expressing a prevailing cur-
rent opinion. Undertaking to test the opinion, Seiior Ramirez sent to
Lavandera, in Souora, a number of words in three Arabic dialects, at
the same time asking for the Seri equivalents; and the inquiry yielded a
Seri vocabulary (probably the first ever printed) of eleven words. Of
these none show the slightest affinity with the Arabic dialects ; at least
four (horse, chamber, population, wine) express concepts alien to the
Seri; and only three or four can be identified with Seri terms recorded
in later vocabularies. No reference is made to Seiior Lavandera's
aboriginal informant; but there is a strong presumption that it was
the official interpreter at Hermosillo and Pueblo Seri — a presumption

' Versuch einer getreuen Schilderuug der Kepublik Mejico besonders in Beziehung auf Geographies
Ethnpgraphie, und Statistik; Hannover, 1844, Band i, p. 441; Band ii, p. 415.

'Ibid., Band li, pp. 419-420.

ajbid., Band, i p. 210.

"Peuaflel defines "Seris" as the "name of a tribe of Sonera, originating probably in the Opata
language' (Nomenclatura Geogrdfica de Mexico— Etimologias de loa Nombres de Lugar
por el Dr. Antonio Penafiel, primera parte, 1897, p. 225) j while Pimentel defines two suggestively
similar Opata "words, **Sera/rai, paso menudo y bueno", and " SererAi, velocidad de la persona que
corre" (Vocahulario Manual de la Lengua Opata, Bol. Soc. Mex. G-eog. y Estad., toiiio x, 1863, p. d06),
i. o., a good and direct pace, and the speed (tf a person running, respectively (cf. postea, p. 125).

96 THE 8ERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

warranted by coiucident historical records and statements of contem-
poraries still living, to the effect (1) that an official interpreter was
there then and for a long time later, (2) that neither then nor later
were there other Seri representatives able to furnish vocabularies at
Hermosillo, Pueblo Seri, or other towns, and (3) that at that time (as at
most others) the relations between the Seri and the whites were such as
to prevent amicable communication through casual meeting or otherwise.
Proceeding with his discussion, Senor Kamirez sought to correct the
allegation of Abb6 Hervas that "in the mission of Belen live three
nations, called Hiaqui, Seri, and Guaima, who speak three different Ian-
gtiages." After quoting a Jesuit manuscript of July, 1730, reporting
that "the language of the Seris is the same as that of the Guaimas",
he added a significant statement contained in a manuscript report from
the Bishop of Sonora, directed to Don Jose de Galvez, under date of
September 20, 1784, concerning the mission of Belen : "Two nations
of Indians, Pimas Bajos and Guaimas, live united, the latter having
abandoned their pueblo under the continuous assaults of the Seris..
The Pimas use their own language. . . . The Guaimas use their
ancient language." Summarizing the evidence (of course secondhand
and derived from the observations and reports of the missionaries),
Sefior Eamirez held as proved, first, "the existence of two diverse
languages at the mission of Belen — that of the Guaimas and that of
the Pimas Bajos"; and second, that "the Guaimas and the Seri are
the same".' It would appear that Senor Ramirez hardly appreciated
the significance of the statement of sixty-four years before that the
Guayma were still using their " ancient " language, with the implication
that they were acquiring familiarity with the Piman tongue — a famili-
arity that may well have misled later inquirers.

It is just to say that scientific knowledge of the Seri began with the
visit to Hermosillo of United States Boundary Commissioner John
Eussell Bartlett, on December 31, 1851, True, Commissioner Bartlett
approached no nearer Seriland than Hermosillo and Guaymas, and saw
but a single Seri; yet he obtained an excellent vocabulary and consid-
erable collateral information from this Indian. According to this
information — '

The Ceris tribe of Indians, with tbe exception of those which are christianized
and reside in the village near Hermosillo, occupy the island of Tiburou in the
Gulf of California, north of Guaymas. Although believed not to number over 100
warriors, they have long been the dread of tbe Mexicans between Guaymas and
Hermosillo, as well as the country to the north, on account of their oontiunal
depredations and murders. Their practice is to lie in wait near the traveled roads,
and there surprise small and unprotected parties. Their place of abode being on
an island or the shores adjacent, and their subsistence being chiefly gained by fish-
ing, they have no desire to steal animals, which would be of no use to them ; nor do
they take any prisoners. To murder and plunder small parties of Mexicans seems

'Lenguaa Primitivaa, in Boletin del Instituto Nacional do Geografia y Estadistica de ]a Reprtblica
Mexicana, third edition, tomo ii; Mexico, 1861, pp. 148-149.

MCQEE) BARTLETT's record 1852. 97

to be their only aim, and every arrow or lance thrown by the Ceris that pierces the
skin causes death, as all are poisoned. Many expeditions, fitted out at a great
expense, havebeensent against them; but, though commanded by competent officers,
all have failed. The number being so small, they manage when pursued to conceal
themselves where they can not be found. The island of Tiburon, as well as the
mainland adjacent, is exceedingly barren and destitute of water; hence parties have
Buffered greatly in the campaigns against them, without accomplishing anything.
I was told that the Government had already expended more than $1,000 for every
male of the tribe. The last serious attack of these people was made upon a gentle-
man traveling to Guaymas in his carriage with his family and attendants, embrac-
ing 16 persons. They were surprised in an unfrequented place and every soul put
to death.'

Commissioner Bartlett quoted Hardy's description of the arrow poison,
and, speaking of the Seri tongue, added:

I found it an extremely harsh language, very difficult to express with our letters,
and totally different from any aboriginal tongue I had heard spoken; . . . but it
was impossible for me, without a close philological comparison with other Indian
languages, to arrive at any correct conclusion as to whether this people are allied or
not to other aboriginal tribes.

He also referred to a prevalent notion that "the Ceris were of Asiatic
origin, in proof of which some statements were made too improbable to
repeat. This idea seems to have originated from the resemblance
between their name and that given by the ancients to the Chinese."

In order to obtain a Seri vocabulary, Commissioner Bartlett had a
messenger dispatched " to a pueblo or village of these Indians near
Hermosillo. The person sent for made his appearance in a few hours" ;
he was "a good-looking man, about 30 years of age. His complexion
was fair, and resembled that of an Asiatic rather than an American
Indian. His cheek bones were high, and his head round and well
formed, though the anterior portion was somewhat angular and promi-
nent. His hair was short, straight, and black. He was a full-blooded
Ceris, and came originally from the island of Tiburon. In about three
hours I completed the vocabulary quite satisfactorily to myself."^ The
vocabulary was not printed with the narrative; nor were references,
made to the Seri population, either in the pueblo or in Seriland.

While the vocabulary was not published by Commissioner Bartlett,
it was preserved and passed into the hands of George Gibbs, who made
a systematic transcript;-' this came into possession of Dr Albert S.
Gatschet, and a copy is preserved in the archives of the Bureau of
American Ethnology. The name of the native informant is not recorded,
but fortunately he was found still living, and was fully identified, dur-
ing the expeditions of 1894 and 1895 — especially toward the end of the

J Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and
Chihuahua, Connected with the United States and Mexican Boundary Commission, during the years
1850, '51, '52, and '53 ; New York, 1854, vol. i, p. 463 et seq .

"Ibid., pp. 463-464.

3This transcript is entered in a blanlc schedule Vocabulary of 180 Words, printed hy the Smith-
sonian Institution for Gribbs, with a supplementary sheet; it is dated January 1, 1852; and while the
published "Narrative" implies that it was recorded December 31, 1851, the manuscript date is con
firmed by the Seri interpreter, Kolusio.
17 ETH 7

98 THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.ann. 17

latter, when, on January 4, 1896, he was employed as an informant.
He was then a fine-looking man of noble stature and figure, and of nota-
bly dignified air and manner, dressed in conventional attire; his hair
was luxuriant, iron-gray in color, and trimmed in Mexican fashion. His
looks indicated an age of about 70, but in his own opinion (which was
corroborated by that of Senor Pascual Encinas and other old acquaint-
ances) he was at least 75. His movements were vigorous, his eyes clear
and bright, his vision good, and, except for hardly perceptible imper-
fection of hearing, he was in full possession of normal faculties. He
was in the employ of the state as a trustworthy attache of the gover-
nor's palacio, where his services were nominal ; his real function was
that of a Seri interpreter in case of need; and on the day specified
he was temporarily assigned to the service of the expedition by His
Excellency Governor Corral. By Mexican acquaintances he was com
monly called Fernando, though he called himself Kolusio, sometimes
using the former designation as a forename; he was also known as "El
General" (= Chief), or "El General de los Seris". He had a vague
memory of Tiburon island, which he left in childhood (at about 6 years
of age, according to his estimate) and had never revisited, though he
had been on the Seri border so late as 1870. Except when temporarily
at Eancho San Francisco de Costa Eica, he had lived in Pueblo Seri,
usually reporting in Hermosillo daily for such duty as might be assigned
to him at the palacio. He was aware that he was regarded as a tribal
outlaw, and admitted that no consideration could induce him to approach
Seriland, since he would be slain by his tribesmen more eagerly than
any alien; indeed, he hardly dared venture so far westward as Molino
del Encinas, in the outskirts of Hermosillo, and only did so in daylight
or in company of others. His few kinsfolk in Pueblo Seri had died or
'deserted so long before that he had forgotten names and dates; and,
as he remarked with half-realized pathos, he had been alone amid
aliens for very many years ("muy muchos anos"). The linguistic
inquiries put to him reminded him of previous interrogations of the
sort, and he voluntarily described the visit of a distinguished American
who, a long time ago (more than 40 years, he thought), came down from
Ures, with many books and papers, and spent New Year's day in
interrogating him about his language and his people. He was much
impressed with the ability displayed by the "Gringo muy grande" in
writing the terms and afterward repronounding them properly; and he
described the visitor as appearing very pale and sick ("muy palido y
malo"), and under the necessity of frequently resting and taking medi-
cine, and also as having wavy hair, worn so long as to hang down over
the neck and shoulders. He could not recall that he had ever heard
the American's name; but his description pointed clearly to Commis-
sioner Bartlett, who had risen from a sick-b6d at Ures and was on his
way to Guaymas to get the benefit of a sea voyage, and who wore his
hair long during a part or all of his expedition (as was subsequently

"•■'■Ei| KOLUSIO'S INTERPRETATIONS — 1850-1896 99

ascertained by extended inquiry). Kolusio also remembered " giving
his language" (a bold if not sacrilegious act, according to his view) to
two or three other persons, (one "not a Mexicano" though speaking
Spanish, none "Americano " ') ; but the first-mentioned instance was the
one most deeply impressed on his mind. At this time (1896) he
retained a working knowledge of the Seri tongue, and was able to serve
satisfactorily as a Spanish-Seri interpreter ; yet careful test showed that
he had forgotten numerous native terms, and sometimes inadvertently
substituted other Indian (Yaqui, Papago, and probably Opata) and
Spanish words; while he knew so little of the tribal customs and
beliefs that inquiries pertaining to them were too nearly fruitless to be
long pursued. Undoubtedly his knowledge of the Seri tongue was
fresher and fuller in 1852; but since he was practically isolated from
his tribe in early childhood, he probably never possessed much infor-
mation concerning the esoteric characters of his people.

The next noteworthy scientific student of the Seri was Johann Carl
Eduard Buschmann, who visited various Mexican tribes, but wbose
knowledge of the Seri was wholly secondhand. Quoting Villa-Senor
and Arrecivita and other early writers, noting unfortunate passages from
Bartlett, and magnifying Miihlenpfordt's misapprehensions into posi-
tive error, he reduced knowledge of this and neighboring tribes to
chaos. The "Guaymas" were separated from the "Seris (oder Seres)",
and these (at least by implication) from the "Tiburones", while the
"Piatos" were combined with the Seri, the traditional alliance with
the Apache was greatly overdrawn, and the "Heri oder Heris" and
the "Tepocas" were treated as distinct.^ No new facts were adduced,
no use was made of local sources of information, and no notice was
taken of other than literary data.

In 1857 the gigantic surveying enterprise of Jecker & Go. was under-
taken, under a concession from the Government of Mexico, and the
scientific surveys were intrusted to a commission headed by El Oapi-
tan Carlos Stone (General Charles Poraeroy Stone, U.S.A.). The com-
mission headquartered at Guaymas, purchased vessels for the survey
of the coast, and began operations also in the interior; Bahia Pinacati
and George island (named by Hardy in 1826) were surveyed, as well
as the entire Sonoran coast south of Guaymas, and "one hundred miles
of coast near Tiburon", besides many hundred square miles of valuable
lands. At this stage friction developed between the progressive com-
mission and theconservative Sonorenses, which ended in the expulsion of
the scientific commission by the State government.' By reason of the

* At tlie time of inquiry the importance of the other Tocahularies was not suspected, and the inter-
rogation was not pushed far enough to permit identification of the persons to whom they were given.

"Die Spuren der aztekischen fiprache im nordlichen Mexico nnd hoheren amerikanischen Norden.
Zugleich eino Musterung der Volkerund Sprachen des nordlichen Mexicos und der Westseite Nord-
amerikas von G-uadalaxara an his zum Eismeer. Von Joh. Carl Ed. Buschmann (in Ahhandlungen
der Xoniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, aus dem Jahre 1854, zweiter Supplement-
Band) ; Berlin, 1859, pp. 218-221 and elsewhere.

* Arizona and Sonera, etc., hy Sylvester-Howry j New York, 1864. pp. 98-102.

100 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.]?

premature termination of the work, few of the observations and other
results were ever published. General Stone himself traveled exten-
sively in Sonora, and delved deeply in the historical records of northern
Mexico; and, while there is no indication that he ever came in personal
contact with the Seri, he collected and sifted current local information
relating to the tribe with notable acumen. In certain "Notes" pre-
pared in Washington in December, 1860, he wrote:

The Geria are a peculiar tribe of Indians occupying the island of Tiburon and the
neighboring coast. They are yet in a perfectly savage state, and live solely by
fishing and hunting. Having been at war with the whites from the time of the first
missions, they have become reduced in numbers to about 300, counting some 80 war-
riors. They are of large stature, well made, and athletic. In war and in the chase
they make use of poisoned arrows, the wounds from which are almost always fatal.
In preparing the poison, it is said they procure the liver of a deer or cow, and by
irritating rattlesnakes and scorpions with it, cause it to be struck by a great many
of these reptiles. They then hang up the mass to putrefy in a bag, and in*the drip-
pings of this bag they soak their arrowheads. I can not vouch for the truth of this
statement, but it is current in Sonora. I was informed by a gentleman in Hermo-
sillo that one of his servants, who was slightly shot by a Ceri's arrow, died quickly
from the effect of the wound (which mortified almost immediately) in spite of the
best medical treatment. Their language is guttural, and very different from any
other Indian idiom in Sonora. It is said that on one occasion some of these Indians
passed by a shop in Guaymas, where some Welsh sailors were talking, and on hear-
ing the Welsh language spoken, stopped, listened, and appeared much interested,
declaring that those white men were their brothers, for they had a tongue like their
own. They are very filthy in their habits, and are said to be worshipers of the
moon.'

Another Mexican traveler of note who collected local and contem-
porary information concerning the Seri, though enjoying no more than
slight inimical contact with them, was Herr Clemens A. Pajeken, of
Bremen (for some time a resident of California). He classed as wild
Indians ("Wilde Indianer, Indios broncos") the Seri and Apache tribes.
Of the former he wrote :

Ceris. This is a small tribe, their number not exceeding 400 souls, or rather head
[dessen Seelenzahl oder besser Kopfzahl] ; yet the government of the State could
not restrain this little band of robbers and marauders that for more than twenty
years have perpetrated their atrocities on travelers between the port of Guaymas
and the city of Hermosillo, the metropolis of the State. . . . The Ceris appear
not to grasp the idea that they are human. Like the prey-beasts of the wilderness,*
they go out to slay men and animals, sparing only their own kind. In many respects
they are viler than the beasts, since they slay without need merely to satisfy a lust
for slaughter. They are not only the stupidest and laziest of the Indians of Sonora,
but also the most treacherous and deceitful. During the Spanish rule, from the
time the first visit was made to lead them toward social life, they have rebelled
more than forty times. Only a couple of families [eiu paar Familien] still reside
in the village [Pueblo Seri], where they make oUas and subsist on the ofifal of the
shambles. The proper home of these barbarians is the island of Tiburon and the
adjacent coasts, whither they return after their outbreaks, although it is an incred-
ibly desert region. Thence they repair to the highways to kill travelers and arri-

' Notes on the State of Sonora, by Charles P. Stone, 18(i0i Washington, 1861, p. 19. Reprinted in
Historical Magazine, vol. v, 1861, pp. 161-169.

McoEE] THE SCIENTIFIC RECORDS — ^CIRCA 1860 101

eros, or to the ranges to steal cattle. They confine themselves to the bow and arrow,
and the latter are poisoned, so that every wound made by them is deadly, or at best
highly dangerous. On my second journey into the interior of the country my horse
received an arrow in the hip ; the arrow, which entered 4 inches, could not be with-
drawn until the following day; and for seven months the wound suppurated.
. . . Their chief food consists of oysters, mussels, snakes, with fish and other
sea food, which they consume entirely raw and which surrounds them with an intol-
erable stench ; though this may be partly due to their exceeding uncleanliuess, since
the process of washini^ is wholly uutnown to them. Their clothing consists of a
kilt of pelican skin. They tattoo their faces, and some pierce their noses to insert
a certain green stone [obsidian]. They are of dark copper color, large and strongly
built. Although in their faces no human sentiments can be discerned, yet they can
not be called ugly. Their limbs are so beautifully proportioned that the Spanish ladies
in Hermosillo view with envy the slender shapes and the comely hands and feet of the
young Ceris maidens. They wear no headdresses, and as their coarse, shaggy hair
is neither combed nor cleaned, it sticks out in tangled tufts in all directions like
spines on a hedgehog ; this alone gives them a forbidding appearance. Their speech
is quite like their character; it is guttural, discordant, and meager, resembling
more the howling of wild animals than human speech, wherefore it is difficult for a
human to learn. They have no religion — at least, I do not deem the gambols and
amusing capers in which they indulge at the new moon to be religious customs.
The tribe is constantly diminishing in numbers, and it is hoped they may soon dis-
appear from the earth by natural decrease — unless the State government soimer
undertakes a war of extermination.'

Herr Pajeken's record bears inherent evidence (at least to one familiar
with the region) of reflecting the current local knowledge and opinion
concerning the Seri with unsurpassed — indeed unequaled — fidelity;
and it is also of value in that it indicates the approximate number of
the tribe then surviving in Pueblo Seri, and in that it gives the con-
temporary estimate of the tribal population.

Among the more careful students of the Seri at second hand should
be mentioned Buckingham Smith, an enthusiastic collector, translator,
and publisher of rare Americana. In the introduction to an anony-
mous and dateless grammar of the Heve language he wrote in 1861 :

The lower Pima are in the west of the province [of Sonora], having many towns
extending to the frontier of the indomitable Seri, who live some 30 leagues to
the north of the mouth of the Hiaqui, and have their farthest limit inland some
dozen leagues from the sea, finding shelter among the ridges and in the neighboring
island of Tiburon.

He added in a note :

The Guaima speak nearly the same language as the Seri, are few in number, and
live among the Hiaqui in Belen and elsewhere, having retreated before the san-
guinary fury of their conquerors.^

While the scientific knowledge of the Seri began with Bartlett's
visit, it assumed definite shape only through the classic researches of
Don Francisco Pimentel (Count Herras) in the early sixties. His
analysis and classification of the Seri tongue rest on a short vocabulary

' Eeise-Erinneruugen und Abenteuer aua der neuen Welt in etlinographischen Bildern, von C. A.
Pajeken; Bremen, 1861, pp. 97-99.

"A Grammatioai Sketch of the Heve Langaage, translated from an unpublished Spanish manuscript;
iu Library of American inguistics, vol. ni, New York, 1861, p. 7.

102 THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

collected by Senor D. A. Tenochio and transmitted to the Mexican
Society of G-eography and Statistics. Noting the condition of the tribe
at the time, Seiior Pimentel wrote :

The Seris are now reduced to a few families only, inhabiting Sonora, especially
the island of Tiburon, for which reason they are also known sometimes by the
name Tiburones. The Indians called Salineros, who live on the borders of Pimeria
Alta, and the Tepocas, who live toward the south, belong to the Seri nation. The
Seris Have always been notable for their ferocity and barbarism, preferring death
in war against the whites to the adoption of civilization. They are dreaded and
notorious for their arrows, poisoned with a most virulent venom [emponzonadas
con activisimo veneno]. They are tall and well formed, and their women are good-
looking. By reason of their distrust of the whites, it has not been possible to ascer-
tain their traditions, further than that their ancestors came from distant lands of
unknown direction. Of their religion it is known that they adore daily the rising su n. '

After brief discussion of the grammar, and extended con^)arison of
some sixty out of the seventy vocables selected by Senor Tenochio, he
concluded :

Although in the list of i^eri words consulted the foregoing reveal analogies with
those of the Mexican group, there are, without doubt, other terms belonging exclu-
sively to the Seri or some other branch extraneous to the Mexican group ; for this
reason it would appear that the idiom represents a distinct family.'-^

The list of these distinct words was appended. Referring to the
dialects, Senor Pimentel expressed the opinion, based on literary refer-
ences, that the "Guayma" or "Gayama", " Upanguaima ", and "Goco-
maques" may be considered as belonging to the Seri family.^

While Senor Pimentel gave credit to his informant, Seiior Tenochio,
he did not indicate the original source of the vocabulary; but the
source may be defined approximately by a process of elimination:
there is hardly a possibility that the terms were obtained from any
tribesmen in Seriland, since they were all inimical to the whites, and
since very few of them have ever known enough of the Spanish tongue
to permit communication with the Mexicans; accordingly, it is prac-
tically certain that the Seri interpreter must have been either (1) a
resident of Pueblo Seri or (2) an attach^ of rancho San Francisco de
Oosta Eica (of which more anon) ; and in either case il. would seem
certain that the native informant could have been none other than the
standard Seri-Spanish interpreter of the last half century — Kolusio.
Indeed, Kolusio was, at the time, the only Seri habitu4 of Pueblo Seri
possessing sufficient knowledge of the Spanish and enough Intelligence
and independence to "give his language", and was one of the two
frequenters of the rancho similarly equipped.

Pimentel's contemporary, Licenciate Manuel Orozco y Berra, contri-
buted in important measure to systematic knowledge of the Seri, which

'CnadroDescriptivo y Comparative de las Lenguas Indigeiias de Mexico, 6 Tratado de Filologia
Mezicana, por Francisco Pimentel, segunda edioion anioa completa, tomo ii; Mexico, 1875, p. 229.
The first edition of the work was published in two volumes, dated, respectively, 1862 and 1865.

nbid.,p.241.

'Ibid,, p. 234.

MCOEE] FIRST LINGUISTIC CLASSIFICATION 103

he defined (apparently on the basis of the Tenochio vocabulary system-
ized and published by Pimentel) as a distinct linguistic family with
two dialectic branches,' viz :

IX FAMiLiJ.sHnr.

XXXIII. Seri, por los s^ris, c(5ris, tiburones, tepooas, aalineros, en Sonora.

61. I. Upanguaima, por los upangaaimas, en Sonora.

62. II. Guaima, por los guaimas, guayraas, gayamas, cooomaques, en Sonora.

Orozco's map assigns to the Seri family an immense area (recalling
Villa-Senor's "despoblado") extending from just above the mouth of the
Yaqui, northward to the thirtieth parallel on the coast, stretching
inland nearly to Gucurpe, Opodepe, and Ures, and including Tiburon ;
the " Salineros" lying adjacent to the coast in the north, the " Tepocas"
medially, and the "Guaymas" in the south, within this area. In eluci-
dating the map he wrote, under the title "El s^ri. — El upanguaima. —
Bl guaima" :

The S^ris, a tribe inbabithig Sonora, forms^ with its subtribes, a separate family.
By their language, by their customs, and by their physiognomy, they are completely
set apart from affiliation with the surrounding nations; and apparently they have
lived in the district whicli they now occupy from times anterior to the establish-
ment of the Pima race and its affiues; their use of poisoned arrows recalls the
Caribs of the islands, as well as of the continent, and it seems not unlikely,
although "very curious, that they are related to them. The S^ris, Itnown also as Tib-
urones, a name derived from the island of Tiburon in the Mar de Cortes, which serves
them as a shelter, considered as parts of their tribe the Tepocas and the Salineros.

The "Upanguaima" (a very small tribe occupying the Seri border)
and the "Guaimas", as well as the "Cocomagues" were combined
chiefly on the authority of Jesuit writers.^ In describing the State ot
Sonora he further wrote :

The S^ris, bounded by the sea on the west, the Pimas Altos on the north, the
Opatas and the Pimas Bajos on the east, and the pneblos of Eio Yaqui on the south,
form the smallest nation of Sonora, but at the same time the most cruel and deceit-
ful and the least capable of reduction to political organization. Hardly uniting
with the smaller pueblos as at Populo and Belen, the rest of the nation engaged so
constantly in cruel warfare that it was necessary to persecute and exterminate
them. . . . Small as was the tribe, three divisions are known: the Salineros,
extending ^;o the confines of Pimeria Alta; south of them the Tepocas, nearest to the
island of Tiburon ; the Guaymas and Upanguaymas occupying the territory adjacent
to the harbor of the same name, afterward added to the pueblo at Belen and
blended with the Indians of Eio Yaqui. Ferocious and savage, they preferred to
die in war against the whites rather than adopt their usages and customs; lazy and
indolent, they so surrendered themselves to the passion of intoxication that mothers
conveyed aguardiente from their mouths to the smallest babes. They are tall and
well formed, the women not lacking in beauty. The poison with which they
envenom their arrows is proverbial for deadly eifect; they compound the venomous
juice from a multitude of ingredients and fortify the compound by superstitious
practices.^

' Geografia de las Lenguas y Carta Etnogrdfica de Mexico, Precedidas de nn lEnsayo de Clasifica-
cion de las Mismas Len^uas y de Apuntes para las Inmigraciones de las Tribus, por el Lie. Maoue
Orozco y Berra; Mexico, 1864, p. 59.

'Ibid., p. 42. sibid., pp. 353-354.

104 THE SERI INDIANS [eth. axn^it

The classifications by Pimentel and Orozco were widely accepted,
and were given still wider currency by republication in standard
works, sucli as the classic dictionary of the Kahuatl tongue by E6mi
Simdon, in which is defined " La famille Seri, dans la Sonora, avec 3
idiomes : le Seri, le (fuaima et 1' Upanguaima." ' In his ethnographic
tableau of the nations and languages of Mexico, M V. A. Malte-Brun
followed Orozco almost literally, save that he emphasized the sug-
gested Caribbean affiliation of the Seri, saying :

They make use of poisoned arrows, and -when one studies their manners, their
habits, their modes of life, one is tempted to find in them a strong affinity [grande
affinity] with the Ga^ribs of the continent and the islands.'

During the seventies Hubert JEIowe Bancroft was engaged in collect-
ing material for his monumental series of works, and in arranging the
ethnologic data for publication. Of the Seri he wrote:

East of the Opata and Pima bajo, on the shores of the Gulf of California, and
thence for some distance inland, and also on the island of Tiburon, the Ceri language
with its dialects, the Guaymi and Tepoca, is spoken. Kew of the words are known,
and the excuse given by travelers for not taking vocabularies is, that it was too
difficult to catch the sound. It is represented as extremely harsh and gutteral in
its pronunciation and well suited to the people who speak it, who are described as
wild and fierce. It is, so far as known, not related to any of the Mexican linguistic
families.-'

The only vocabulary, of this language which Bancroft was able to
find was added (without reference to the aboriginal source) ; it com-
prised the eleven words collected by Lavandera and discussed by
Eamirez in 1850.*

The Seri, with their afflnes, the Tepoka, Salinero, Guayma, and
Upanguayma, 'were included by Bancroft in his arbitrarily defined
"Northern Mexican family".^ The accompanying map (which is highly
inaccurate) located the "Salineros" on the gulf coast, considerably
north of the common embouchure of " B.. de Horeasitas" and " Bio de
Sonora", while the "Seris" were more conspicuously represented about
the broad estuary into which the rivers embouch, and the "Tepocas"
were located still farther southward on both Tiburon and the mainland,
the island being placed too far southward and the river much too far
northward.^ ISTumerous data relating to the Seri were incorporated im
his text; all were second-hand, though many were taken from unique
or rare manuscripts. The coastwise natives of Sonora were said to
" live on pulverized rush and straw, with fish caught at sea or in arti-
ficial enclosures"; mention was made of the allegation that " the Sali-

iDlctionnaire de la Langue Nalmatl ou Mexicaine, r6(lig6 d'apr6s les Dociiments imprimes et
Manusorits les plus antheutiqnes et prtofid^ d'nne Introduction ; Paris, 1885, p. xviii.

" Tableau de la Distribution ctbuographiqnes des M ations et des Langues an Hexique ; Coagr^s Inter-
national des Am^ricanistes, Compte-rendu de la Secoude Session, tome II, 1878, p. 37.

'The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, -vol. ill (The Native Eaces, vol. IJI, 1882, p. 704). Tbe
"east" in this quotation is obviously a misprint for west.

«Ibid., p. 705.

"Op. cit., vol. J, pp. C04-605.

6 Ibid., p. 471.

MCGEE] Dewey's surveys — 1874 105

ueros sometimes cat their own excrement"; anthropophagy was noted,
but as pertaining rather to the interior than to the coastwise tribes;'
and prominence was given to the Seri arrow poison, of which an early
author wrote:

The poison with which they eu venom the points of their arrows is the most active
that has ever been known here. ... It has not been possible to ascertain with
certainty the deadly materials of which this pestilential compound is brewed.
Many things are alleged, e. g., that it is made from the heads of vipers, irritated
and decapitated at the moment of striking their teeth into a piece of Inng or of half
putrefied hnman flesh.

Reference was made also to the "magot" (probably the yerba mala of
the modern Mexicans) as a source of arrow poison.^ The girls' puberty
feast was said to be kept up for several days among the Seri and
Tepoka, and the former were said to " superstitiously celebrate the new
moon, and bow reverentially to the rising and setting sun", and also to
"employ charms in their medical practice".^ Finally, the constituent
tribes were discriminated in a manner recalling the persistent assump-
tion that the parasite-converts at the missions fairly represented the
Seri:

The Tepocas and Tiburones are fierce, cruel, and treacherous, more warlike and
courageous than the Ceris of the mainland, who are singularly devoid of good
qualities, being sullenly stupid, lazy, inconstant, revengeful, depredating, and much
given to intemperance. Their country even has become a refuge for evil doers. In
former times they were warlike and brave, but even this qualitj' they have lost, and
have become as cowardly as they are cruel.''

It is evident that this characterization of " the Ceris of the mainland"
was based on the degraded scavengers outlawed by the tribe and
attached to the missions and pueblos during much of the historical
jieriod.

It was also during the seventies that the errors and uncertainties of
three and a half centuries concerning the coasts of the Californian gulf
were finally brought to an end through the surveys of Commander
(now Admiral) George Dewey, U. S. N., and the oflScers of the United
States ship Narragansett, under the direction of the Hydrographic
Ofiice of the United States. These surveys resulted in trustworthy
and complete geodetic lociftion of all coastwise features, in geographic
placement of the entire coast-line, in soundings of such extent as
toVdetermine the bottom configuration, in tidal determinations, in
recognition of the currents, in definition of harbors and anchorages,
and eventually in a series of elegant and accurate charts (dated
1873-75) available for the cartographers and navigators of the
world. As the largest island in the gulf, Tiburon received especial
attention; its coast was accurately surveyed and mapped, while the
interior was sketched in considerable detail, and the adjacent channels
were carefully defined and sounded.

'The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, vol. in (The Native Races, vol. ni, 1882, p. 676.)

••'Ibid., p. 579.

' Ibid., pp. 584, 587, 589. • Ibid., p. 590.

106 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.anx.17

Naturally the surveyors came into contact with the Seri tribe.srneii.
Of them Commander Dewey wrote:

During the greater part of the year Tiburon Island is resorted to by the Seris (or
Ceres) tribe of Indians, who inhabit the adjacent mainland, and their huts and
encampments may be seen in many places along the shore, principally on the east-
ern side of the island. They are reputed to be exceedingly hostile and to use
poisoned arrows in opposing the landing of strangers on what they consider their
domain, but during the stay of the Narrayansett in the -vicinity they were very
friendly. At first they were shy and made threatening gestures, but soon finding
that our intentions were peaceable, became friendly and returned our visits to the
shore by frequent and lengthy calls on board ship. They are very expert in hunt-
ing with the bow and arrow and in catching fish and turtles, which abound in the
surrounding waters. The canoes of these Indians deserve especial mention. They
are made of long reeds, which are bound together with strings after the manner of
fascines, three of which when fastened together . . . have sufficient buoyancy
to support one or two persons. They kneel in tliese canoes when paddling, the
water being at the same level in the canoe as outside of it.' i>

Illustrations of the "Tiburon canoe" (or balsa), drawn by H. Von
Bayer, were also introduced.^ In addition Mr Von Bayer succeeded
in obtaining two photographs of 8eri Indians, taken on shipboard; one
of these is of special interest in that it illustrates the peculiar attitude
of the Seri archer in the act of using his weapon.^

Unfortunately the surveys were confined to the coast, and the
interior remained unmeasured and unmapped save on the basis of tra-
dition and travelers' tales, supplemented by a few vague itineraries
and traverses. Except along the international boundary and the rail-
way (Ferrocarril de Sonora), the locations of pueblos and ranchos
remained guesses, the delineation of mountains remained a work of
imagination, and even the best cartographers continued to run in rivers
at random or in such wise as to afford artistic effect.^

In 1879 M Alphonse L. Pinart traveled extensively in northern
Mexico and southwestern United States, and made considerable lin
guistic collectlous among various tribes. Desiring to obtain a Seri
vocabulary, he planned a visit to the tribal territory; but on reaching
Caborca in March he was met by the information that the Seri were
on the warpath, and had recently devastated a hacienda on their fron-
tier and slain more than a dozen white settlers.' Thence he repaired

' Publication No. 56, U. S. Hydrograpliio Office, Bureau of Navigation. The West Coast of Mexico,
from the Boundary Line hetween the United States and Mexico to Cape Corrientes, including the
Gulf of California (revised edition), 1880, p. 145.

'' Ibid., pi. XV, p. 136 (one of these illustrations is reproduced in figure 28).

sThe negatives of these pictures were retained by Mr Von Bayer, and have been kindly turned
over to the Bureau of American Ethnology. Unfortunately the archery negative had been shattered,
but enough of the fragments were preserved to show all essential details and to afford a basis for
the drawing reproduced in plate xxix.

"The imposing official map of 1890, titled Carta General de la Eepublioa Mexioana, formada en
el Ministerio de Fomento con los datos mas recientes, por disposicion del Secretario del Kamo, General
Carlos Facheco, engraved and printed by Erhard Eermanos, Paris, on a scale of about 32 miles to
the inch, represents Bio Bacuache as about the right length and with its center in about the right
location, but as running at almost exactly right angles to its actual course ; and it contains divers
other equally startling errors.

"Becorded by Gatschet, Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, Berlin, Band XV, 1883, p. 130. The location
of the hacienda was not specified, but there are local traditions of Seri raids about that time, both at
Hacienda Serna (between Caborca and Libertad anchorage) and at Bacuachito.

MCGEE] THE PINART VOCABULARY 1879 107

to Pueblo Seri, and early in April obtained there a Seri-Spaiiish
vocabulary of several hundred words, with a number of short phrases
throwing some light on the grammatic construction. This record was
transmitted to J3r Albert S. Gatschet. It comprises a title page
inscribed "Vocabulario de la lengua S^ri | Interprete el Gl. de los
Seris | y otro IndiQ. | Pueblo de Seris | 4 Abril 1879"; four foolscap
sheets (written on both sides, thus making 16 pages) of vocabulary;
and a final page bearing two short phrases and inscribed "Los S^ris,
me dice el general de ellos, son como doscientos hombres de llevar
armas — viven todavia parte en la isla de Tiburon, parte en la costa.'
Pueblo de Seris, 4 Abril, 1879, Alph. Pinart." A transcript of this
invaluable vocabulary is preserved in the Bureau of American Eth-
nology. There is nothing either in the original vocabulary or in
the known correspondence relating to it to identify the aboriginal
informant, but the identification is made easy through the coincident
testimony of living witnesses and the unmistakable implication of
the historical records to the effect that there was at that time but
a single Seri Indian^ resident at Pueblo Seri — i. e., the official inter-
preter, "El General" Kolusio. This identification is strengthened by
the remarkable similarity between this vocabulary and that of Bart-
lett, a- similarity made the more striking by the fact that one was
recorded in English, the other in Spanish; the identification is sup-
ported, too, by Kolusio's memory of "giving his language" to a
stranger "not a Mexicano" yet familiar with the Spanish; and the
identification is practically established by the considerable number of
terms expressing concepts alien to the Seri (e. g., ax, adobe, house,
horse, hog, field, irrigate, pigeon, thresh, tobacco, shirt, the names of
the months, etc), evidently acquired through long and intimate
acquaintance with Mexican customs and domiciles and modes of
thought — for all these concepts were familiar enough to Kolusio, yet to
no other known Seri Indian of recent decades. Accordingly it may be
deemed practically certain that M Pinart's vocabulary, like that of
Commissioner Bartlett, was obtained from Kolusio; and it is at least
strongly probable that both the Lavandera- Ramirez and the Tenochio-
Pimentel vocabularies were derived from the same aboriginal source —
an indubitably excellent source, save for the occasional interjection of
alien notions, and the infrequent substitution of foreign equivalents
for forgotten terms.

Barred from Seriland by the current war craze, M Pinart was pre-
vented from obtaining much collateral information concerning the Seri;
but he concluded (on grounds not stated) that "the Tepoca spoken on

1 " The Seris, the chief tells me, comprise about 200 men fit to bear arms — they still live part on the
island of Tiburon, part on the coast."

2M Pinart's reference to his interpreter is not only impersonal but ambiguous. "Interpreteo by
the chief of the Seri and another Indian" might be considered to imply two Seri Indians, though it
may, with equal linguistic probability, be interpreted to mean the specified Seri and another Indian ;
and while the temporary' presence of a second Seri at the pueblo seems possible, the sum of probabili-
ties points so clearly the other way as to demand the latter interpretation.

108 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.axn,17

the south of Eio del Altar is identical with the Seri",' and also that
"the Guaymas were of the stock of the southern Pimas, or Nebomes".^

While M Pinart failed to publish, his linguistic collections were com-
pared, systemized, and made public by Dr Albert S. Gatschet in a
notable memoir on "Der Tuma-Sprachstamm", 1883. Comparing the
Seri, as represented by the Pinart and Bartlett and Pimentel vocabu-
laries, with the Yavapai, M'Mat, and incidentally with the Kouino,
Tonto, Oochimi, and other tongues, Dr Gatschet was led to adopt the
suggestion of Professor Wilhelm Herzog^ that the Seri is a dialect of
the Tuman stock. In the comparative vocabulary, which comprises
about a hundred and forty Seri words (selected from the 611 terms in
the Pinart collection), there are perhaps a dozen terms presenting some
similarity to those of one or more Yuman dialects; among these are
terms for ax, tree, split, tobacco, heaven, pigeon, dog, and others of
presumptively or certainly aJjen character.^

Herzog's suggested classification, with Gatschet's indorsement, was
accepted even more promptly and widely than the earlier classifica-
tions of Pimentel and Orozco. It was tacitly adopted by Director
J. W. Powell in his classic arrangement of Indian linguistic families ot
America north of Mexico;"' it was explicitly approved by Adolph P.
Bandelier in his " Pinal Report of Investigations"; " and it was implic-
itly accepted and fortified by Dr Daniel G. Briuton in his work on
"The American Eace".^ Brinton's Seri words were "chiefly from the
satisfactory vocabulary obtained by the late John Russell Bartlett";
of the 21 terms, about 8 (including that for the alien concept "house")
suggest affinity with the Yuman, chiefly in the Mohave dialect; the
others are either wholly distinct or only superficially similar, e. g., in
the concurrence of a consonant or two, or merely in the correspondence
in number of syllables.^

Stated briefly, the scientific researches relating to Seriland and the
Seri during the fifty years from the fourth decade of the century to the
middle of the last decade resulted in (1) a satisfactory survey of the
coast, (2) the collection of two excellent Seri vocabularies, with a few
others of less extent, and (3) two discrepant linguistic classifications of
the tribe, both widely quoted and accepted.

^G-atschet, op. cit., p. 131.

^Bandelier, Flual Keport of Investigations among the Indians of the Soutli western United States,
part I, in Papers of the Archseological Institute of America, American seriew, m, Cambridge, 1890,
p. 76. As already noted, it is probable that the G-uayma lost their "autigua idioma " (Ramirez, oyj. cit.
p. Ii9> long before M Pinart's visit; and pending definite statement of the facts on which his conclusion
rests it is necessary to retain the classification based on specific and repeated, albeit unskilled, obser-
vations of the identity of the Gaayma speech with that of the Seri.

3In correspondence with Dr Gatschet, op, cit., p. 133.

*Dr. Gatschet has recently revised the data and recognized the distinctness of the Seri tongue
(Science, new series, vol. xii, 1900, p. 556-558).

"Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, ]885-'86i Washington, 18B1, p. 137.

«0p.cit., p. 74.

^The American Race: A Linguistic Classification and Ethnographic Description of the Native
Tribes of North and South America; New York, 1891, p. 335.

* Mr. Hewitt's discussion (postea, pp. 299-344) gives fuller details of this short vocabulary.

MCGEE] THE ENCINAS REGIME — 1844-1894 109

During the half century of historical silence from 1844 forward, and
pending the progress of the desultory researches, the Seri suffered a
succession of external shocks more serious in their internal effects than
any of those of the three centuries preceding; indeed it is just to say
that during this half century the Seri range was curtailed, the Seri
customs were modified, and the Seri population was diminished more
effectively than during the preceding sesquiceutury of fairly definite
record. The chief factor in this transformation was an intrepid pioneer,
who pushed actual settlement toward the Seri frontier more vigorously
than any predecessor — Serior Pascual Encinas, a son of Sonora.'

Born near Hermosillo in 1819, Don Pascual was in early maturity at
the time of Colonel Andrade's expedition, and was fully conversant
with the later history of the Seri. Of adventurous disposition, and
holding interests in Bacuachito, he was familiar with the Seri frontier;
and in hunting deer and other large game over the vast delta plain of
Kio Sonora he had perceived the agricultural possibilities of the region.
During the struggle of 1844 he became impressed with the idea that
the Seri might be controlled and gradually inducted into useful citizen-
ship through a judicious combination of industrial, educational, and
evangelical agencies; and before the end of the year he began the
establishment of a rancho (the present Eancho San Francisco de Oosta
lUca) on the Seri borderland, with the double object of developing new
resources and regulating the relations between tribesmen and settlers.
Enlisting the aid of a corps of vaqueros, mechanics, and farmers, he
excavated a deep well, erected corrals and adobe houses, cleared away
the exceptionally luxuriant mesquite forests, fenced fields, and stocked
the plains with horses, burros, and cattle. At the same time he sought
Seri wanderers and treated them with such kindness and firmness as
to gain their confidence; and while most of the tribe held aloof, some
attached themselves to the rancho, and a few even were taught to labor,
albeit in desultory fashion. In this stage, as for some years after-
ward, he was materially aided by his contemporary, Kolusio, then in
his physical prime aud still in good repute among his kinsmen. Mean-
time he obtained the assignment of two priests, who made it their chief
duty still further to placate the tribesmen and their families and to
induct them into religious observances and belief; and as the confi-
dence of the Indians increased, he had two boys domiciled in the rancho
and educated in the Spanish as well as in the faith, in the hope that
they might pass into priesthood and so form a future bond with their
kin. One of these neophytes disappeared in the troublous times of
a later decade, though tradition indicates that he became a tribal out-
cast (like Kolusio still later) and slunk away to Pitiquito and Altar,
and afterward to California; the other, christened Juan Bstorga and

1 The following paragraphs are condensed from oral recitals by Seflor Encinas (a notably straight-
forward and judicious authority), supplemented and corroborated in all essential details by Seuores
Andres Noriega^ Tgnacio Lozania, and several other habitues of the Seri borderland, as well as by
Kolusio and Masb^m, several Papago informants, and various collateral documents.

110 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.akn.17

nickuamed El Gran Pelade ("The Great Shorn"), survives as subcliief
Mashem, long since relapsed into his native savagery, save that he
remembers the Spanish, affects a hat, cuts his hair to the ueck (whence
his nickname), and prefers footgear to the fashion of his fellows.

Industrially, Don Pascual's venture proved successful; the fertile
soil, periodically watered from below by the underflow of the semi-
annual freshets, yielded incredible crops; reveling in the exceptional
floral wealth of the delta and tided over bad seasons by the artificial
forage, the stock increased and multiplied beyond precedent; and so
the rancho became a flourishing establishment, housing a score or more
of families and harboring a hundred or two dependents, in addition to
the thousands of half- wild horses and cattle. Meantime, the industrial
lines ramifying from the rancho formed a drag net for Seri raiders, prac-
tically cutting off forays eastward toward Hermosillo and Horcasitas,
and greatly reducing the sallies southeastward toward Guaymas and
northeastward toward Bacuachito and Oaborca; and Don Pascual
began to receive recognition and state and federal concessions as a
public benefactor. For a decade the industrial and evangelical influ-
ence and the effect of the bold kindness of El Patron extended and
became felt throughout the tribe, and most of the families visited the
rancho at least occasionally. Yet even the best of them remained
averse to labor save in sporadic spurts, and indifferent to the religious
teaching, save when sweetened by substantial largess; while all but
the decrepit and the two carefully restrained neophytes came and went
capriciously, and were much given to decamping incontinently by
night to return shamefacedly one by one in the course of a week or
two, without consistent or adequate excuse for their stampede — indeed
the vaqueros habitually classed these nocturnal flights of the Seri and
the reasonless stampedes of their stock in the same category. Osten-
sibly a few of the larger boys and girls and a still smaller number
of the adults were helpers about the rancho ; actually they were scav-
engers, consuming the waste of the shambles and the earth-mixed
scatterings from the thrashing floors, and saving the rancheros the
noisome duty of removing the carcasses of animals dead by disease or
accident; and as their indolence increased under the easy regime, tbey
grew into more and more open thievery. By no means deficient in
shrewdness and cunning, they adopted numberless devices for impos-
ing on the credulity of the majordomo and other officials of the rancho.
When coin-like tokens of stamped copper were used in the transactions
of the rancho as equivalents of labor, the Seri ingeniously obtained
sheet copper by st«alth or barter, systematically counterfeited the
tokens, and exchanged them for supplies at the rancho store; it was a
favorite trick to surreptitiously break the neck or a leg of a horse, cow,
or burro, and report finding the dead or crippled animal, at the same
time begging for the carcass; and, whenever opportunity offered, they
slyly slaughtered a head of stock, consumed it to the hoofs and horns

^BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VII

HOUSE FRAMEWORK, TIBURON ISLAND

HOUSE COVERING, TIBURON ISLAND

MCGEB] THE ENCINAS WARS — 1855-1865 111

aud larger bones, sucked up the blood status, and buried the few
remains in cactus thickets, impenetrable save by their own hardy
limbs and bodies. Nor did any of the tribe except the two restrained
neophytes ever really enter the collective life of the ijatriarchal group
headed by Don Pascual; they attended no industrial or social or
churchly function save in response to reminder and solicitation; they
craved the white man's medicines in slight disorders, but rejected them
in extremis ; and the dying or dead were spirited away to be inhumed
and mourned, according to their wont, in their harsh but beloved
motherland.

During this period of mutual toleration the Seri were so deeply
influenced by the white contact that, for probably the only time in their
history, they voluntarily allowed au alien free entry into their terri-
tory; and Don Pascual explored the coast of Bahia Kino, projected a
port, and even visited Isla Tiburon twice or thrice. In one of these
visits he was ferried over Boca Infieruo on a balsa, but, finding him-
self unable to keep pace with the swift-footed Seri on their hilly path-
ways, he returned for his saddle mule; halfway across, the poor animal
swimming behind the balsa suddenly plunged and struggled, and, on
landing, hobbled out on three legs — the fourth having being snapped
by a shark. Warned by this incident, Don Pascual abandoned a half-
formed plan of stocking the island, aud afterward brought up a small
vessel from Guaymas in which he carried across a dozen caballeros
(including Don Ygnacio Lozania, who had visited the island with the
Andrade expedition); and this party examined the southeastern quar-
ter of the island, watering two or three times at Tinaja Anita, and
pushing as far westward as Arroyo Carrizal. On this trip he studied
the Seri housebuilding, and was the first to note the large use of
turtle-shells and sponges in the process.'

About the middle fifties it became apparent that the Seri were divid-
ing into a parasitical portion clustered about -the rancho (as their for-
bears gathered about Populo and Pueblo Seri long before), and a more
independent faction clinging to their rugged ranges and gale-swept
fishing grounds; and it became evident, too, that the thievery of the
dependent faction would soon ruin the rancho if not checked, or at
least greatly diminished. Accordingly the passive policy was modified
by introducing a more active police service. At first the penalties for
theft and misdemeanors were light, and the system promised well —
especially as even a slight punishment was equivalent to banishment,
the criminal fleeing to Tiburon on his escape or immediately after the
crime; yet the experience of a year or two pro,ved that the escaped
parasites seldom resumed the hard customs of their tribal life, but gen-
erally returned to the borderland and there preyed on the wandering
stock from the rancho. Finally, driven to extremity, and supported

> Typical Seri jacales, as described by Don Pascaal in 1894, were observed ou Tiburon by the 1895
expedition, ae shown by the photographs reproduced in plates vii, viii, and ix.

112 THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.ann.'i?

by the state and federal authorities (themselves confessedly unable suc-
cessfully to cope with the condition), Don Pascual reluctantly adopted
a severer regime. Sending out as messengers several Seri still remain-
ing at the rancho, he convened the leading chiefs and clanmothers,
of the tribe in a council, and announced that the stock-killing must
cease, on pain of a Seri head for each head of stock thereafter slain.
The Indians seemingly acquiesced, and separated; but within two
days a group of Seri women "milled" a band of horses, caught and
threw one in such wise as to break its neck, and immediately sucked
its blood, gorged its intestines, and buried its quarters to "ripen",
after their former fashion. Thereupon a matron remaining near the
rancho was sent to demand the delivery of the perpetrators; and,
when she failed to return, the vaqueros were instructed to shoot the
first Seri seen on the llano. Within two days more, the tribe were on
the warpath for revenge — and the war raged for a decade.

During the early months of the Encinas war Don Pascual's vaqueros
sought merely to enforce the barbaric law of a head for a head; but, as
they found themselves beset by ambusb, assailed and wounded by night,
despoiled of favorite animals, and kept constantly in that most nerve-
trying state of eternal vigilance, their rancor rose to an intensity nearly
equal to the savage passion for blood- vengeance; and thenceforth the
Seri were hunted from the plain east of Desierto Encinas precisely as
were the stealthy jaguar and sneaking coyote — and the ghastly details
were better spared. ' There were few open battles; commonly the
vaqueros rode in groups and guarded against ambuscades, and the Seri
were picked off one by one; but once in the early sixties Don Pascual,
at the head of some 30 vaqueros, fell into an ambush on the frontier,
and several of his horses were killed and some of his men wounded,
while 60 or 70 Seri warriors were left on the field. Don Pascual's
horse received a slight arrow wound, to which little attention was paid;
next morning the gash was swollen and inflamed and the beast too stiff
and logy for use; in the afternoon the glands under the jaw were swollen,
and there was a purulent discharge from eyes and nostrils. On the
second morning the animal was hardly able to move, its head was enor-
mously swollen, there were fetid ulcers about the jaws and throat, and
the swelling extended to the legs and abdomen. On the third morning
there were suppurating ulcers on various parts of the body, while rags
of putrefied flesh and stringy pus hung from the head and neck, and
the animal was unapproachable because of the stench; during the day
it dropped dead, and even the coyotes and buzzards shrank from the
pestilential carcass. This and parallel incidents impressed Don Pascual
with the dangers incident to Seri war; but fortunately the fact that
he— the leader of the party, the first to fall into the ambush, and the
target of most of the arrow8--had escaped unscathed impressed still
more deeply the surviving savages, and they soon sued for peace.
Thenceforth he was revered as a shaman greater than those of the tribe,
feared as an invulnerable fighter, and honored as a just lawgiver; and

SPONGE USED FOR HOUSE COVERING, TIBURON ISLAND

MCOEE] CONQUEST OF THE SERI — CIECA 1870 113

gradually the condition of mutual tolerance was restored, to rest on a
firmer basis than before.

Don Pascual estimates thart during the dozen years of strife between
his men and the Seri forces about half of the tribe were slain. The
horror of the history of this period may be passed over; it may merely
be noted as a casual fact that one of the two Mexicans accompanying
the 1895 expedition was credited with 17 Seri heads. When he pointed
out the site of his last exploit, a mile or two south of Rancho Libertad,
and some incredulity was expressed, he immediately galloped to the
spot and brought back a silent witness in the form of a bleached Seri
skull.'

At the close of the war Don Pascual continued the industrial devel-
opment of the plains lying east of the desert border of Seriland,
received new concessions in recognition of his conquest, and developed
the ranchos of Santa Ana and Libertad; but the evangelical arm of
his vigorous mission gradually withered. For a dozen years the Seri
looked up to " El Patron" as a quasi rulei*, whose approval was requisite
for the ratification of chieftainship, and through him ran a slender
thread of nominal fealty to the state and the republic; yet few para-
sites gathered about the rancho. Mash^m had gone back to his clan;
and when depredations were committed at Bacuachito or elsewhere
and the criminals were caught, usually through Don Pascual's instru-
mentality, they were sometimes haled to Hermosillo for trial, and
Kolusio was kept there as the official interpreter of charges and evi-
den(!e and findings. Sometime during the sixties a few Seri youths were
coaxed to Pueblo Seri for education, but when they were instructed to
cut their hair they slunk dejectedly to their temporary domicile, only
to decamp during the ensuing night; again, in 1870, Kolusio was
commissioned to briug in a few young people and a matron or two of
the tribe, and succeeded in doing so just in time to encounter an epi-
demic of measles, from which some died, while the others shook the
dust of the pueblo from their feet forever; and this last straw, added
to his alien residence and his presence at the dreaded trials, broke
down the tribal toleration of Kolusio and made him an outlaw forever.

In the later seventies Don Pascual's energies began to wane, while the
Seri population was waxing again; and, although the Encinas frontier
was protected, raids began to recur toward Bacuachito, on the ranchos
southwest of Oaborca, and sometimes toward Guaymas; and the hostili-
ties then engendered have never terminated. In the eighties Don
Pascual suffered from cataract, gradually losing his sight, and his rule
relaxed still further ; Eancbo Libertad was abandoned, and a condition
of armed neutrality supervened at San Francisco de Costa Rica and
Santa Ana; and this condition still persists, save as occasionally modi-
fled by a crude sort of diplomacy on the part of the Seri : when blood feud
is not burning (and it is usually extinguished by the killing of an alien
on the coast or some remote part of the frontier), and when no stock have

1 The specimen described by Dr Hrdlifika, postea, p. 141.
17 ETH 8

114 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

been slaughtered for some months, an aged woman may be seen skulking
about the mesquite clumps in sight of the rancho; if her presence is
tolerated for a day or two, she approaches to beg for water and food and
to receive the cast-ofl" rags hastily forced on her nakedness by the sen-
sitive senoras; if she deem her welcome not too chill, she erects a jacal
a few hundred yards away, and there she is usually found, a morning or
two later, to be accompanied by a younger matron with a child or two ;
and if these are tolerated, the raucheria may grow to half a dozen jacales
and half a hundred persons.' The band may remain a fortnight or even
a month; but in case of serious illness of any of their number, or of
threat or punishment for petty peccadillos, or of an unusual storm, or
of a brilliant meteor, or of any exceptional occurrence about the rancho,
the rancheria is commonly found empty next morning. If the attaches
of the rancho are indisposed to tolerate the first envoy, yet feel kindly
rather than rancotous, she is merely dogged and stoned away like a
depredating domestic animal from another hacienda; if the rancor of
past encounters remains, the mercy accorded her is precisely that shown
the predatory coyote or other feral animal from the fastnesses of the
sierras — and the tribe take warning and doubtless rejoice that their
loss is no greater.

Any recital of the common history of the peculiarly savage Seri
and the whites necessarily conveys an exaggerated notion of intimacy
and mutual iniluence, since it emphasizes the few positive interrelations
scattered along the decades of neglected nonrelation; and this is true
of the Encinas regime as of earlier centuries. The great fact is that
throughout their recorded history the Seri have touched civilization so
slightly and so seldom that the effect of each contact was largely lost
before the next supervened; and the unprecedentedly intimate contact
of the Encinas regime, especially during the initial period of abnormal
toleration, serves less to indicate relationship in characteristics and
sympathies than to measure the breadth of the chasm between the
Seri and the Mexican — a chasm not exceeded, and probably not
equaled, elsewhere in America. About the middle fifties, probably
every Seri above infancy and below decrepitude had seen Don Pascual
and some other habitu6s of the rancho; they yielded to the seductions
of indolent scavengering apparently more numerously than ever before ;
they substituted cast-off rags and barter-bought manta (plain cotton
cloth) for the products of their own primitive weaving; they ate
cooked food when it fell in their way; they halfheartedly adoi)ted
metal cutting implements, and sought or stole nails and hoop-iron for
arrowpoints; some of them acquired a smattering of Spanish, and
many of them solicited and sported Spanish names, just as they begged
and flaunted tawdry handkerchiefs and beads; and they generally
enjoyed mildly the ecclesiastical fiestas, and took kindly to the cross
as a symbol of peace and plenty and perhaps of deeper import. Tet

> A typical single jacal and the entire rancheria gathered at Costa Eica in 1894 are shown from
photographs in plates x and xi.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. IX

HOUSE SKELETON, TIBURON ISLAND

INTERIOR HOUSE STRUCTURE, TIBURON ISLAND

MCQEE] WILDNESS OF THE TRIBE 1870-1894 115

even during this halcyon term no Seri save Kolusio and the Altar
outlaw ever learned to live in a house; none but these and Maah6m
■wore hats habitually; and, despite the fact that they often witnessed
and sometimes playfully or perforce participated in the processes,
no Seri ever really encompassed the idea of house-building or even of
making adobe. Though surrounded by horses when near the ran-
cho, they never learned to ride nor to use the animals otherwise than
for immediate slaughter and consumption; though in frequent sight
of skilful ropers, they never fully grasped the idea of the riata, pre-
ferring to seize their prey with hands and teeth; though familiar with
the agricultural operations of the rancho, they never turned a sod
nor planted a seed on their own account; though in frequent sight of
cooking, they seldom began and never finished the process with their
own food; though acquainted with firearms, they continued to regard
them as thaumaturgic devices, and chose the bow and arrow for actual
use; though submitting to apparel on the frontier, they commonly cast
away the incumbrances on returning to their lairs; and no Mexican
or other Caucasian ever saw within their esoteric life — their names
remained unrevealed, their hair remained sacred, their mourning for
the dead was unheard save at a distance, and no alien, even unto today,
has ever seen the birth of their babes, the christening of their children,
the burial of their dead, or the ceremonies of their shrines. The Seri
and the whites were, indeed, mutually tolerant; but, so far as concerns
mutual sympathy, the toleration was almost precisely on a par with
that between the ranchero and the vulture-flock that scavengers his
corrals — and when depredation began the toleration was of a piece
with that between householders and their unwillingly domiciled
rodents. It is not too much to say that the interracial mistrust and
hatred of the Western Hemisphere culminates on the borders of Seri-
land; though the antipathy is commonly regarded by the alien tribes-
men and the Mexicans as other than racial, since the Seri are felt to be
hardly human — a feeling fully shared by the Seri, who undoubtedly
deem themselves more closely akin to their deified bestial tutelaries
than to the hated humans haunting their borders.

Even during the Encinas regime the Seri came in occasional contact
with aliens on other parts of the frontier: on Hacienda Serna, the
somewhat remoter borderland outpost on the north, the relations
between the landholders and the Seri were analogous to those on the
Encinas plains, though less acute in the ratio of relative distance.
Occasionally small parties of warriors journeyed to Guaymas ^ on balsas
or on foot to barter pelican-skin robes for Caucasian commodities,
chiefly aguardiente and manta; still more rarely similar pilgrimages
were made to the outskirts of Hermosillo; a few marauding raids were
made to the ranchos lying near Cieneguilla and Caborca; and a num-

I The accompanying plate XII is reproduced from a photograpli of a small group of Seri traders taken
near Gnaymas, probably during the eighties. It was kindly furnished by F. A. Ober, who purchased
it in Guaymas.

116 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

ber of ill-advised prospecting parties, coming by land or water, paid
the penalty of foolhardiuess. Writing about 1864, Historian Yelasco
recurred to the Seri to say :

This handful of bandits, assassins, thieves, brutes [inhumauos], infinitely vile
and cowardly, on February 23 last, on the Guaymas road, at the place called Huer-
fano, assassinated 4 unhappy women, including a girl of 9 years, and 7 men who
were conducting them in a cart toward that port.

He bitterly denounced the apparent apathy of the state and federal

authorities, adding:

When it is read in history fifty years hence that a handful of murderous Ceris,
certainly not more than 80 of the tribe able to bear arms, was able to domineer in
the midst of their crimes with Unexampled audacity on account of the debility of
the government and the inhabitants, it will be regarded as a romance or a fable;
for it seems impossible that in the nineteenth century such a condition of things
could exist to degrade the reason, the morality, and the dignity of civilized man.

Yet a final note, apparently added in press, recorded that —

In consequence of the last incident of the Ceris, the prefect of Guaymas, Don
Cayetano Navarro, took the field, returning with 12 women and 16 children pris-
oners ; also 2 striplings and a vieillard. He slew 9 among those who had no leader.
This was on Isla Tiburon. The Indians fled thence, and are supposed to be at
Tepococ'

These may be considered as characteristic skirmishes attending the
Encinas war. Other episodes followed, including the outbreaks of
1879, noted in part by M Pinart. Bacuachito suffered in various
locally important events that will never be written : when Don Jesus
Omada, a water-guide to the expedition of 1895, was asked about the
Seri at Bacuachito, he answered with cumulative vehemence, "They
killed my father. They killed my brother ! They killed my brother's
wife!! They have killed half my friends!!!" As he spoke he was fever-
ishly baring his breast ; displaying a frightful scar over the clavicle, he
exclaimed, "There struck a Seri arrow"; then he stripped his arm
with a single sweep to reveal a ragged cicatrix extending nearly from
shoulder to wrist, and added in a tone tremulous with pent bitterness,
"The Seri have teeth!"

In the coarse of the half century from 1844 onward, the population
of Sonora intoreased materially, and carried more than a proportionate
increase in the development of agricultural and mineral resources; and,
especially under the beneficent Diaz regime, the state passed from the
condition of a remote frontier province into that of a well-governed
commonwealth. iS aturally this progress carried the Caucasian element,
including that of blended blood, farther and farther away from the
nonprogressive Seri ; and thereby the horror and detestation awakened
by the very utterance of the name of the lowly tribe were intensified
beyond description or ready understanding. The traditions of arrow
poisoning were kept alive, and, doubtless, growing; the recitals of car-
rion eating were repeated, and possibly— just possibly — magnified
beyond the reality; the accounts of offense and defense by nails and

> Boletin de la Sociedad Mexioana de Geografla y Estadistica, tomo XI, 1862, pp. 134-125.

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»<=GEis] TYPICAL OUTBREAKS — 1870-1894 117

teetb (such as that of Jesus Omada) passed from mouth to mouth
until— incredible as it may seem — the more timid Sonorenses stood in
greater dread of these natural weapons of the Seri than of their brutal
clubs and swift-thrown missiles, or even of their poisoned arrows ; while
traditions of cannibalism came up and received such general credence
that the current items of Seri outrages, both in local gossip and in the
Mexican and American press, customarily recounted savage butch-
eries ending with gruesome feastings on the raw or slightly cooked
flesh of the victims. The shuddering antipathy felt for the perpetra-
tors of these inhumanities even a thousand miles away increased
toward their frontier, as light toward its source; the dread was deep-
ened by the failure of punitive expeditions sent out again and again
only to be balked by waterless sand- wastes or wrecking tiderips; and
in 1894 and 1895, at least, the horror of the Seri was a daily and nightly
incubus on half the citizens of Hermosillo and the tributary pueblos
and ranches, and a thorn in the flesh of the state officials.

The external history of the Seri since the spring of 1894 is fairly
known, both through the direct researches and through press reports,
and would seem to be typical. This era may be assumed to open with
the arrival on Tiburon's shores of the sloop Examiner, carrying two
San Francisco newspaper writers, Eobinson and Logan, with two assist-
ants, Clark and Cowell. The to-have-been-expected happened duly,
save that two of the party escaped, and on reaching Guaymas adver-
tised the disaster through correspondence and the press. Several of
the accounts indicated that the two victims were not only slain but
eaten, and various plans were laid in California, Arizona, and Sonora
for the recovery of the bones'— as if, forsooth, the omnivorous and
strong- toothed Seri spared anything save scattered teeth and split
sections of the longer shafts of skeletons the size of those of Homo
sapiens. While in Guaymas the two survivors set up claims for
indemnity, which initiated international correspondence and inquiry
into the details of the affair. These details are indicated, in sufficient
ftilness for present purposes, in a formal comniunication incorporated in
the international correspondence, viz :

Smithsonian Institution,
Bureau of American Ethnology,

Washington, December li, 1894.
Sir : Early in November I visited the Seri tribe of Indians, inhabiting Tiburon
island in the Gulf of California and an area of several thousand square miles of the
adjacent mainland in Sonora, Mexico. The visit was for the purpose of making
collections under your authority as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; but I
availed myself of the opportunity for obtaining additional information relating to
the customs, habits, and history of the tribe. In addition to my own party I was
accompanied by SeBor Pascual Encinas, a prominent citizen of Hermosillo, and

*A nuraber of Californians and Arizoniaus, especially M. M. Eice, of Phoenix, intimated a strong
desire to Join the 1895 expedition oi^ the Bureau of American Ethnology for the express purpose of
personally ascertaining the fate and seeking; the remains of Robinson, who was extensively known
in southern California and southwestern Arizona.

118 THE SERl -INDIANS [eth.anh.17

owner of several ranchos adjacent to, and one within, the territory claimed by the
Seri Indians; also by Seiior A. Alvemar-Loon of Hermosillo, a young Mexican gen-
tleman educated in the United States. For Senor Encinas the Seri Indians have the
highest regard, and his kindly motive in accompanying the party was to facilitate
friendly intercourse with the Indians; SeHor Alvemar-Leon acted as Spanish-
English interpreter, and one of the tribe who speaks Spanish [MashiSm] acted as
the Seri interpreter.

One of the subjects of inquiry of the Indians related to the alleged killing of two
Americans by the Seri Indians on Tiburon island during last spring at a date not
definitely known either to the Indians or to myself. At first the Indians were
indisposed to convey information on the subject, but after receiving presents from
Senor Encinas and myself, and friendly assurances from the former, the interpreter
ibr the tribe confessed the crime and detailed the circumstances, denying, however,
that any of the Indians present at the place of conference (Rancho de San Fran-
cisco de Costa Rica, 17 leagues west-southwest of Hermosillo and near the coast)
participated.

According to the first account given through the Indian interpreter, the Indians
on the island saw a small vessel approach the shores of the island, and saw four men
land therefrom in a small boat. The spokesman among the strangers made inquiry,
chiefly by signs, as to whether game was abundant in the interior of the island, and
was by signs answered in the affirmative by the chief of the tribe, who displayed a
letter of authority from the state officials at Hermosillo. Then the strangers divided,
two remaining on the shore by the small boat, while the spokesman and another,
accompanied by several Indians, started toward the interior of the island. When
they were some distance away — the account continues — some of the Indians remain-
ing on shore indicated by signs a desire to borrow the rifle of one of the two men on
the beach, and after some p9.rley the rifle was turned over to them ; then the Indians
desired also to borrow the small boat in which the party of white men had landed,
and after one of the two men remaining on the shore was put aboard the vessel,
this, too, was placed in the hands of the Indians. Thereupon several of the Indians
entered the small boat, carrying the white man's rifle, and rowed around a head-
land a'short distance away. Passing this point they landed and a part of them ran
quickly into the interior in such direction as to intercept the course of the white
men. There they lay in wait until the strangers appeared, when they shot the
spokesman, killing him almost instantly. On this the second white man cried out
for help, whereupon he Joo was shot and wounded, and then (according to the flrst
account) ran away and concealed himself in the bushes and was seen no more. The
Indians who had borrowed the boat then went back to 'the shore, and reentered the
boat with the intention of returning and capturing the fine vessel of the strangers;
but as they approached the vessel, being at the time quite near the shore, the man
on board arose suddenly with a guu pointed toward them and shouted, whereupon
they dropped the borrowed gun and, leaping from the boat, ran away among the mes-
quite bushes, all escaping unhurt. The white man on the beach then, as the account
ran, leaped into the boat, and, recovering his gun, rowed to the vessel and got aboard,
when the two men at once made sail and escaped down the bay.

The foregoing account was given to Seuor Encinas alone by the Indians through
their interpreter, and was afterward conveyed to me through Senor Alvemar-Leon.
Both of us recognized the incongruity with the character of the Seri Indians of
that part of the narrative relating to the wounding and escape of the second man, and
SeQors Encinas and Leon and myself sought to impress the improbability of the
account on the interpreter. Subsequently the Indians, through their interpreter,
conveyed to Senor Encinas, a modification of the account (after adhering to the first
version for twenty-four hours), which agreed in all essential respects with the flrst,
excepting the supplementary statement that some of the Indians (but neither the
party who accompanied the white men nor those who followed in the boat) ran after
the wounded man, caught him, shot him again — whereupon he again cried out — and

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«''<^«i'=J THE ROBINSON EPISODE — 1894 119

then killed him with stones. This modified account, also, Senor Enciuas duly con-
veyed to niu.

Still later, in collecting linguistic material through the Serl interpreter with the
assistance of Senor Alvemar- Leon, I recurred to the subject incidentally (or at least
ostensibly so) on two or three occasions, partly with the view of verifying or dis-
proving the current report that the men were eaten by the Indians ; and since the
first distrust on the part of the interpreter and the companions (by whom he was
commonly surrounded) had worn oif, the questions were answered freely and with
apparent truth. In brief, the information gained in this way was a repetition in
general terms of the statement of the killing of both men; but the responses indi-
cated (1) that the Indians are not cannibals, (2) tbat they do not eat any portion or
portions of the body of an enemy slain in war, (3) that they do not eat human flesh in a
sacrificial way, and (4), specifically, that they did not eat the flesh of the two white
men killed last spring. I am disposed to give credence to all of these statements.

Sefior Encinas informed me that for a long time after the reputed killing of the
two Americans on the island the Seri were exceptionally shy and were seldom seen
on the mainland; that the first representatives of the tribe to appear Were one or
two old women who came to his rancho with much trepidation ; that these repre-
sentatives being not ill-treated, a man appeared, who was also well treated, and
that still later other members of the tribe appeared, though it was only a few days
before our visit that any considerable body of the Seri Indiana showed themselves
at their favorite mainland haunt on his rancho. It was his first communication
with the Indians since the killing, and, both he and they agreed, the first confession
of the crime outside of their own tribe.

While in Sonora various conflicting accounts of the affair were given me. One, to
which I was disposed to attach credence by reason of the character of my informant
and his explanation of the circumstances under which the information was gained,
was given me (just before the visit referred to above) by ex- Consul Fo;rbes, of Guaymas.
This account corresponds in all essential details with that conveyed to my party by
the Indians, except that, according to Mr Forbes' account, the survivors were alto-
gether unarmed after the borrowing of the rifle by the Indians, and that when the
man in the boat arose suddenly and shouted he pointed at the Indians not a gun but
a stick, in the hope of deceiving them thereby, as he was fortunate enough to do.

It may be added that the Seri Indians are at the same time the most primitive and
the most bloodthirsty and treacherous of the Indians of North America, so far as my
knowledge extends ; also that their character is well known throughout Sonora, and
indeed generally throughout Mexico, Arizona, and the southern part of California.
I was assured by the acting governor of Sonora and by the prefect of Hermosillo that
it would be little short of suicide for even a Mexican ofifieial to visit these Indians
or land on their island without an armed guard. Through conference with the
Indians, also, I learned that any white man, Mexican, or Indian of another tribe com-
ing in contact with them is killed without the slightest compunction, unless they
are restrained by fear. Accordingly I am satisfied that the character of the Seri
Indians is quite as bad as the unsavory reputation they have acquired throughout
the Southwest.

It should be observed that while the Indians were unable to give the names of the
men killed, their description of tnen and vessel agreed exactly with those of the
newspaper correspondent Robinson and his companion, and with the sloop Examiner;
and Mr Forbes' information was obtained direct from the survivors of the expedition
of which Mr Robinson had charge. There can thus be no doubt that it was Mr
Robinson and his companion who were killed by these Indians, and whose killing
was confessed by them, as set forth above.

With great respect, your obedient servant,

W J McGee,

Etlmologist in charge.
Honorable S. P. Langley,

Secretary of ike Smithsonian Institution.

120 THE SEEI INDIANS [bth.ann.17

On first learning of the incident, months before the diplomatic corre-
spondence began, the state and federal authorities promptly adopted-
vigorous punitive measures. A vessel carrying a force of federal
troops was dispatched from Guaymas and a body of state troops were
sent from Hermosillo with inhtructions to meet on the coast and capture
the criminals at any cost, even to the extermination of the tribe if resist-
ance was offered. But like so many others, the expedition failed; the
horses of the land party were stalled in the sands and burrow-riddled
plains, the vessel was harassed by storms and tidal currents, and the
landing boats were swamped by the surf, while the Indians merely fled
at sight of the invaders toward inaccessible lairs or remote parts of their
territory; and when the water was gone and men and animals were at
point of famishing, the forces retired without so much as seeing a single
Seri.

During the ensuing autumn the tribe, having quenched their blood-
feud in alien blood, turned toward peace, and sent a matron of the
Turtle clan, known as Juana Maria, to Costa iiica — i. e., Eancho de San
Francisco de Costa Rica— where she was gradually followed by younger
matrons and children, then by youths, and finally by warriors (after
the fashion of Seri diplomacy) to the aggregate number of about sixty.
Here they were found by the first expedition of the Bureau of American
Ethnology, in November, 1894; and here, under the still strong influ-
ence of the venerable Don Pascual, supplemented by small gifts and
persistent pressure, they gradually "gave their language", submitted
to extensive photographing, confessed specifically to' the Robinson kill-
ing, and yielded up nearly the whole of their portable possessions in
the way of domestic implements and utensils, face-painting material,
pelican-skin robes, snake skin necklaces, etc.

With the return of the Bureau party to Hermosillo the Indians
became restive and soon withdrew beyond the desert. In the course
of the ensuing winter a group returned to the neighborhood of Costa
Rica, where, by aid of strategy, seven warriors (including some of those
seen at the rancho in the preceding November) with the families of
four, were arrested, taken to Hermosillo, tried, and, according to oral
accounts, banished. Irritated by this action, and connecting with it
the visit of Don Pascual and the strangers desiring their language
and sacred things, the clans resumed the warpath, displaying special
animosity toward the residents of Costa Rica. There were a few minor
skirmishes; then, at the instance of th& state offlcials, a number of
Papago Indians, who arn feared by the Seri beyond all other enemies,
were domiciled at the rancho, where their mere presence proved a suffi-
cient protection. Meantime, according to apparently trustworthy press
accounts, two small exploring parties entered Seriland; the first con-
sisted of seven prospectors, who kept well together until about to leave
the territory, when one of their number fell behind — and his companions
saw him no more, tbough they carefully retraced their trail beyond the

MCGEEi THE PORTER-JOHNSON EPISODE — 1896 121

point at which he had stopped ; the other was a German naturalist-
prospector with two mozos (servant-companions), purporting to hail
from Chihuahua, who started across the delta-plain of Eio Bacuache
and Desierto Encinas with saddle animals, and never reappeared.

Then came the second expedition of the Bureau of American Eth-
nology, to which several Papago domiciled at Costa Eica were attached
as guards. While the party were at the rancho the day before the
first entrada into Seriland via Barranca Salina, a party of vaqueros
from Eancho Santa Ana tended a herd of stock to the barranca for
water; one of the animals strayed behind a dune, and the vaqueros,
following its trail, came on a small band of Seri already devouring the
entrails, and attacked them so vigorously that they escaped only by
outrunning the horses, leaving behind all their unattached possessions,
including a bow and quiver of arrows and an ancient and nonusable
army rifle. This incident, albeit typical, was untimely, and doubtless
aided in rendering the Indians too wild to permit communication with
the aliens during the ensuing weeks spent in their territory.

After the withdrawal of this expedition the Seri resumed their range
over the borderland plain, with the evident intention of avenging the
insult of the invasion. There were a number of skirmishes, in which
some of the Papago guards of the 1895 expedition were wounded and
had horses killed under them, though they did customary execution on
the worse-armed Seri; and extensively published press items indicate
that, toward the end of January, 1896, a party of five gold prospectors
landed on Tiburon, whence one escaped.

A well-attested episode ensued toward the end of 1896: Captain
George Porter and Sailor John Johnson spent the later part of the
summer in cruising the coasts of the Gulf, collecting shells, feathers,
and other curios in the small sloop World. About the end of October
they apparently anchored in Eada Ballena; and a day or two later
Captain Martin Mendez, of Guaymas, in charge of the schooner Otila,
being driven up the gulf and into Bahia Kunkaak by storms, came on
a horde of Seri looting Porter's vessel. The episode received publicity
on Mendez's return to Guaymas; United States Consular Agent
Crocker instituted inquiries, and Governor Corral sent a force to Costa
Eica, where, after some delay, a parley was held with a strong band of
Seri under the chiefship of "a seven-foot warrior named El Mudo (The
Mute), ... so called for his reticence of speech."^ The testimony
obtained at the parley and from Captain Mendez indicates that Porter
and Johnson landed, or at least approached the shore, probably in a
small boat; that they were met by a shower of arrows, under which
Johnson immediately fell, while Porter defended himself with a shot-

'San FranciBco Chronicle, October 16, 1898, p. 3. The details of the episode, including the corre-
spondence of Consular Agent Crocker, were printed in the newspapers of San Diego (the place of
residence of Porter and Johnson), as well as in those of San Francisco and other cities ; and there was
considerable correspondence concerning the matter with the State Department at Washington. Some
reports recount that the bodies of Porter and ijohnson were rent to fragments and devoured, but these
details naturally lack confirmation. El Mudo's portrait appears in plate xix.

122 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

gun, slaying five of the Seri before he was himself transfixed; that the
vessel was then looted, and that Mendez and his crew were prevented
from landing and apparently driven off by the Seri force. In the course
. of the parley the state officials "demanded the surrender of the ring-
leaders in the massacre", with the alternative of " regarding" the whole
tribe as guilty and punishing them accordingly"; but El Mudo, evi-
dently holding the invasion of the island as the initial transgression
and deeming the loss of the tribe under Porter's marksmanship as
more than commensurate with the Caucasian loss, peremptorily ended
the conference and returned to the island. Vigorous efforts were made
to pursue the tribesmen beyond their practically impassable frontier,
with the usual product of ruined horses and famished riders. Then the
episode died away in an armed neutrality strained somewhat . beyond
the normal. Meantime the Papago guards remained at Costa Eica.
"They are continaously on the lookout for these Seris, and once or twice
have killed a stray one or two." '

Both before and after the Porter- John son episode schemes were
devised by various parties, chiefly Californians, for obtaining conces-
sions covering Tiburon and its resources, most of these schemes involv-
ing plans for the extermination of the Seri ; and press accounts indicate
that a concession covering the islands of the gulf above the latitude of
29° (i. e., including about half of Isla Tiburon) was granted to an
American company of much distinction. It would appear from numer-
ous news items that representatives of the company sought to land on
Tiburon, where they were first cajoled with offerings of food, afterward
found to be poisonous, and later driven off by an enlarged force of
naked archers. A recent publication bearing some official sanction
announces that " Mr W. J. Lyons, of Hermosillo, Sonora, has secured
a concession for the exploration of the island and in November of this
year will fit out an expedition for that purpose."'' The various move-
ments are significant as indices of current opinion and official policy
with respect to the tribe.

On the whole, the later e()isodes are natural sequels of the eventful
and striking earlier history of the Seri ; and they can only be interpreted
as pointing to early extinction of one of the most strongly marked and^
distinctive of aboriginal tribes.

' The quotations are from the account of T. H. Silshee, of San Diego, prepared on his return from
a visit to Costa Rica. •

' El Estado Ue Sonora, Mexico. Sus Industrias, Comerciales, Mineras y Manufacturas. Obra Publi-
cada bajo los Auspicios del Gobiemo del Estado. Obra Ilustrada, Octubre de 1897. By J. E. South-
worth, }SrogaleB; p. 73.

TRIBAL FEATURES

Definition and Nomenclature

According to Mash6m and the clanmother known as Juana Maria,
the proper name of the tribe known as Seri is Kunkwak (the first vowel
obscure and the succeeding cousonant nasalized; perhaps iT^-Ma/r or
K'^-Mak would better express the sound). According to Kolusio, as
rendered by M Pinart, the Seri term for people or nation is Jcom-Jcalc,
while the Seri people are designated specifically as Kmike, this desig-
nation being practically equivalent phonetically (and doubtless seraat-
ically) to Sr Tenochio's general term for women, hamykij. Mash^m
was unable or unwilling to give the precise signification of the tribal
appellation used by him, merely indicating Juana Maria and one or
two other elderwomen squatting near as examples or types; but com-
parison of the elements of the term with those used in other vocables
affords a fairly clear inkling as to its meanii-.g. The syllable Icun (or
fe", kon, kom, etc.) certainly connotes age and woman, and apparently
connotes also life or living {kun-kale=an old woman, McGee; i-kom
=a wife, ekam=eLli\e, Bartlett; hikkam=eL wife, kmam-kikamman=2t,
married woman, Yafc-A;ow=Yaqui tribe, Pinart; kon-kabre=a,n old
woman, Tenochio), the forms being distinct from the word for woman
{kmamm,'M.aGee; ekemam, Bartlett; fcmam, Pinart and Tenochio) and
widely different from the term for man {ku-tUmm, McGee; ek-e-tam, Bart-
lett; ktam, Pinart; tarn, Tenochio) with its several combining variants;
there are also indications in numerous vocables that it connotes per-
son or personality. On the whole, the syllable appears to be an ill-
formulated or uncrystallized expression, denoting at once and associa-
tively (1) the state of living or being, (2) personality, (3) age or ancient-
ness (or both), and (4) either femininity or maternity (much more
probably the latter), this inchoate condition of the term being quite
in accord with other characters of the Seri tongue, and frequently
paralleled among other primitive languages. The syllable kaak (or
kak, and probably kok, koj, kolch, etc.) would seem to be a still more
vague and colloidal term, despite the fact that it is used separately to
designate the fire-drill. There are fairly decisive indications that it is
composite, the initial portion denoting place and the final portion per-
haps more vaguely connoting class or kind with an implication of
excellence, both elements appearing in various vocables (too numerous
to quote). On the whole, kaak would appear to be a typical egocentric
or ethnocentric term, designating and dignifying Person, Place, Time,

123

124 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

and Mode, after the manner characteristic of primitive thought;' so
that it may perhaps be translated " Our-Great-(or Strong-)Kind-Now-
Here". The combination of the two syllables affords a characteris-
tically colloidal connotation of concepts, common enough in primitive
use, but not expressible by any single term of modern language; in a
descriptive way the complete term might be interpreted as " Our-Living-
Ancient-Strongkind-Elderwomen-Now-Here," while with the utmost
elision the interpretation could hardly be reduced beyond "Our-Great-
Motherfolk-Here" without fatal loss of original signification. It should
be noted that the designation is made to cover the animals of Seriland
(at least the zoic tutelariesof the tribe) and fire as well as the human folk.
The proper tribe name is of no small iuterest as an index to primi-
tive thought, and as an illustration of an early stage in linguistic devel-
opment. It is significant, too, as an expression of the matronymic
organization, and of the leading role played by the clanmothers in the
simple legislative and judicative affairs of the tribe; and it is especially
significant as an indication of the intimate association of fire and life
in primitive thought.

The designation "Seri", with its several variants, is undoubtedly an
alien appellation, and neither Mashfim nor Kolusio could throw light
on its origin or meaning, though they did not apparently regard it as
opprobrious. Peiiafiel describes it as an Opata term; and Pimentel's
Opata vocabulary ^ (extracted from the grammar and dictionary com-
piled by Padre Fatal Lombardo) indicates its meaning satisfactorily,
albeit without special reference to the tribe. The key term in this
vocabulary is " Sererai, velocidad de la persona que corre." The accent
over the first vowel serves to indicate prolongation, so that term and
definition may be rendered, literally, se-ererai, speed of the person who
runs. Analysis of the term shows that the essential factor or root is
that introduced elsewhere in the same vocabulary as "^re, llegar."
Now, "llegar" is a protean and undifferentiated Spanish verb neuter,
without satisfactory English equivalent ; it may be interpreted as arrive,
reach, attain, fetch, endure, continue, accomplish, suffice, ascend, or
mount to, while as a verb active and verb reflective its equivalents are
approach, join, proceed a little distance, unite, etc; it may be said to
imply movement or process with a centripetal connotation — i. e., a con-
notation antithetic to that of the expressive irregular verb "ir" in its
protean forms, including the ubiquitous and ever-present "vamos" (an
American slang equivalent of the Castilian verb "llegar" in certain of
its phases is the strong interjectory phrase, " get together " ). The prefix
se is merely an intensive, running not merely through the Opata,
but throughout various tongues of the Piman stock. In his extensive
vocabulary of the Pima and Papago Indians of Arizona (1871),^ Captain

' Of. The Beginning of Mathematics, in the American Anthropologist, new series, vol. i, 1899, p. 651.
2 Vocabulario Manual de la Lengua Opata, por Francisco Pimentei ; Boletin de la Sooiedad Mexicana
de Geografla y Estadistica, tomo x, 1863, pp. 287-313.
* In the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology.

MCQEE] MEANING OF TRIBE NAMES 125

F. E. Grossmann defines the term "se, very, ad. (prefix)", and over a
hundred and fifty of his terms illustrate the use of this adjectival or
adverbial prefix as an undifferentiated yet vigorous intensive (e. g.,
t(/, female or woman, se-uf, a lady — great or grand woman; o% high
or height, se-o'fc, highmost); and in the Pimeutel vocabulary this sig-
nification is attested by several other terras (e. g., " Sererai, paso menndo
y bueno"). Finally, the intercalated consonant r is a common par-
ticipial element in the Piman, while the sufl&x iti is a habitual assertive
termination, as shown by various terms in the Pimentel and other vocab-
ularies. Dropping this termination, the expression becomes se-erer, or —
without the nonessential participial element — seere, signifying (so far as
can be. ascertained from the construction of the language) "moving",
or "mover", qualified by a vigorous intensive.' To one familiar with the
strikingly light movement characteristic of the Seri — a movement far
lighter than that of the professional sprinter or of the thoroughbred
"collected" by a skilful equestrian, and recalling that of the antelope
skimming the plain in recurrent impulses of unseen hoof-touches, or
that of the alert coyote seemingly floating eerily about the slumbering
camp — this appellation appears peculiarly fit; for it is the habit of the
errant Seri to roam spryly and swiftly on soundless tiptoes, to come
and go like fleeting shadows of passing cloudlets, and on detection to
slip behind shrub or rock and into the distance so lightly as to make
no audible sign or visible trail, yet so fleetly withal as to evade the
hard-riding horseman. The Seri range over a region of runners: the
Opata themselves are no mean racers, since, according to Yelasco and
Bartlett, "In twenty- four hours they have been known to run from 40
to 50 leagues";^ and, according to Lumholtz, their collinguals, the
Tarahumari, or "Counting- Runners", are named from their custom of
racing-,^ and display almost incredible endurance:

An Indian has been known to carry a letter from Guazapares to Chihuahua and
back again iu five days, the distance being nearly 800 miles. In some parts where
the Tarahumaris serve the Mexicans they are used to run in the wild horses, driving
them into the corral. It may take them two or three days to do it, sleeping at night
and living on a little pinole. They bring in the horses thoroughly exhausted, while
they themselves are still fresh. They will outrun any horses if you give them time
enough. They will pursue deer in the snow or with dogs in the rain for days and
days, until at last the animal is cornered and shot with arrows or falls an easy prey
from sheer exhaustion, its hoofs dropping off.''

'The latter form (se-ere) corresponds precisely with the current Papago pronunciation of the terra,
though none of the various Papago informants consulted were able to interpret the expression;
indeed, they simply relegated it to the category of "old names" which they deemed it needless to
discuss. An archaic form of orthography, noted in the synonymy (pp. 128-130), is SSeri, which
suggests the same sounding of the initial sibilant.
■ ^From 105 to 130 miles; Bartlett,- Personal Narrative, vol. i, p. 445.

^Memoirs of the International Congress of Anthropology, Chicago, 1894, p. 104. In a letter to Mr
r. W. Hodge, under date of September 11, 1900, Dr Lumholtz says: "After renewed investigation
I have come to another opinion regarding the meaning of the tribal name 2'arakumare. This word is
a Spanish corruption of the native name ' Ealameri '. Though the meaning of this word is not clear,
that much is certain that rala or tara means ' foot ', and I therefore take it that we must be at least
Approximately correct when we say that the word signifies 'foot-runner'."

* American Anthropologist, vol. vin, 1895, p. 92.

126 THE SERI INDIANS [bth.ann.17

The Papago, of the same region and linguistic stock, have a racing
game in which a ball of wood or stone caught on the foot is thrown,
followed, and thrown again until the two or more rival racers have
covered 20 to 40 miles in the course of a few hours; and their feats
as couriers and trailers are quite up to those of the Opata. Yet
among all these tribes, and among the Mexicans as well, the Seri are
known as the runners par excellence of the Sonoran province; and it
is but natural that their astounding swiftness and lightness of foot
should have brought them an appellation among contemporaries to
whom these qualities peculiarly appeal.

Accordingly, both derivation and connotation ^ive meaning to the
name, and warrant the rendering (much weakened by linguistic infelic-
ities) of "spry" or "spry-moving", used in substantive sense and with
an intensive implication.

The chronicles of the tribe, especially those written during the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries, indicate that the alien designation
was applied loosely and with little appreciation of the tribal organiza-
tion, just as was the case elsewhere throughout the continent. Grad-
ually the chroniclers took cognizance of intertribal and intralribal
relations, and introduced various distinctions in nomenclature express-
ing tribal or subtribal distinctions of greater or less importance. One
of the earliest distinctions was that between the Seri and the Tepoka,
and this distinction has been consistently maintained by nearly all later
authorities, despite the commonly accepted fact (brought out most
authoritatively by Hardy . that the tongues of the tribes are substan-
tially alike. Another early distinction was that made between the Seri
and the Guayma; it was based primarily on diversity of habitat and
persistdnt enmity, though all the earlier authorities agreed, as well
shown by Eamirez, that the tongues were essentially identical. The
distinction has been maintained by most authorities and strongly empha-
sized by one (Pinart, as quoted by Bandelier), and since the Guayma
are extinct, and hence beyond reach of direct inquiry, the early inter-
pretation of tribal relation must be perpetuated.' Still another distinc-
tion was that made between the Upanguayma and the Guayma, and»
inferentially the Seri also ; although the grounds for this distinction were
not specifically stated, it seems to have grown out of diversity in habitat
merely; but there were clear implications that the tribe or subtribe was
affiliated linguistically with the Guayma, and hence with the Seri, and
this assignment has been adopted by leading authorities, including
Pimentel and Orozco. Among the earlier distinctions based on indus-

• In view of the clear iDdications, both a priori and a posteriori, that the latest Guayma survivors
must have taken the language of the Fimau (Yaqui) tribesmen with whom they found refuge, and in
view of his failure thus far to present his data for public consideration, M Pinart's inference that the
Guayma belonged linguistically to the Fiman stock can hardly be admitted to hold against the specific
statements of the Jesuit missionaries and such accomplished inquirers as Hamirez and Fimentel.

MCQEE] DISTINCTNESS OF THE TRIBE 127

trial factors was tbe setting apart of the Salineros, or Seri Salineros;
yet tbis distinction, fortuitous and variable at the best, expressed no
essential character and has not been maintained. A much later dis-
tinction was that between the Seri and Tiburones, emphasized by
Miihlenpfordt and exaggerated by Buschmann; but there seem to have
been no better grounds for it than misapprehensions naturally attend-
ing a slowly crystallizing nomenclature. In any event it has not been
maintained.

At several stages the chroniclers coupled the Seri with other tribes,
on various grounds: in the eighteenth century they were thus com-
bined with the Pima, the Piato, and especially the Apache tribes. In
the earlier half of the nineteenth century they were frequently coupled
in similar fashion with the Pima and Apache tribes, and in the later
half of the nineteenth century, and even in its last lustrum, they have
been similarly combined with the Yaqui. The later combinations seem
to explain the earlier: the Yaqui outbre^aks withdraw portions of the
arm-bearing population from the Seri frontier, and the marauders take
advantage of the withdrawal so regularly that a Yaqui scare is inva-
riably followed by a Seri scare, and hence the two warlike tribes are
constantly associated in the minds of the Sonorenses as synchronous
insurrectionists; and scrutiny of the earlier chronicles indicates that
most of the so-called combinations of former times were of similar sort.

On putting the chronicles together, it seems clear that the term " Seri "
was originally of lax application, but was gradually restricted to the
tribe inhabiting Tiburon and ranging adjacent territory, including the
coUingual but inimical Guayma and Upanguayma, and also the col-
lingual and cotolerant Tepoka; and that the various Piman tribes, as
well as the Apache, were always distinct, and commonly if not invari-
ably inimical.

The ethnic relations of the Seri people attracted early and repeated
attention. Humboldt gave currency, albeit not unquestioningly, to a
supposed Chinese or related Oriental aflSliation ; Hardy noted the sim-
ilarity of the Seri tongue to that of the Patagonians ; Lavandera classed
the language as Arabic; Stone and Bancroft circulated a supposed
identification of the speech with the Welsh; Eamirez, and more espe-
cially Pimentel, narrowed the field of afi&liation to Mexico and defined
the tongue as distinct ; Orozco y Berra, and more especially Malte-Brun,
slightly reextended the field and suggested affiliation with the Caribs;
while Herzog, Gatschet, and Brinton reextended the field in another
direction and saw, in a vocabulary obtained from a Seri scion but alien
thinker, similarities between the Serian and Yuman tongues. The
recent researches tend strongly to corroborate the evidence collected
and the conclusions reached by Eamirez and Pimentel; for the some-
what extended comparisons between the Seriaii and neighboring lan-
guages (introduced and discussed in other paragraphs) indicate that the

128 THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

Seri tongue is distinct save for two or three Cochimi or other Yuman
elements, which may be loan words such as might readily have been
obtained through the largely inimical interchange of earlier centuries
described by Padre Juan Maria de Sonora and other pioneer observers—
certainly the slight and superficial similarities with other tongues of
the region seem insufScient to meet the classiflc requirement of sup-
posititious descent from "a common ancestral speech".' Accordingly
the group may be defined (at least provisionally) as a linguistic family
or stock, and may be distinguished by the family name long ago applied
by Pimentel and Orozco, with the termination prescribed in Powell's
fifth rule,'' viz, Seria/ii. Oonformably, the classification of the group
would become —
Serian stock, comprising —

Seri tribe, including Tiburones and (certain) Salineros;

Tepoka tribe;

Guay ma tribe;

Upanguayma tribe.
Naturally this classification is provisional in certain respects. It is
little more than tentative in so far as the Tepoka are concerned, since
no word of the Tepoka tongue has ever been recorded, so far as is
known, and since the tribe is still extant and within reach of research ;
it must be held provisional also in respect to the separateness of the
stock, which may be found in the future to be afiQliated with neighboring
stocks, though the effect of the more recent and more critical researches
in eliminating supposed evidences of afQliation points in the opposite
direction. The arrangement is in some measure provisional also with
respect to the relations between the long-extinct Guayma and Upan-
guayma and the type tribe, especially since contrary suggestion has been
offered in terms implying the existence of unpublished data; yet the
presumption in favor of the critical work by Eamirez, Pimentel, and
Orozco is so strong that practically this feature of the classification
may be deemed final.

No attempt has been made to render the tribal synonymy exhaustive,
though search of the records has incidentally brought out the more
important synonyms, as follows :

Seri Tribe

Ceres— 1826; Hardy, Travels, p. 95.

Ceri — 1875; Pimentel, Lenguas Indfgenas, tomo ii, p. 229.

Ceris— 1745; Villa-SeHor, Theatre Americano, p. 391.

Ckris Tepocas— 1850 ; Velasco, Noticias Estadistioas, p. 132.

Hbki — 1854; Busohmann, Die Spnren der aztekischen Spraohe, p. 221.

Heris — 1645; Eibas, Triumphos de Nuestra Santa Fee, p. 358.

Hbrises— 1690 (?); Van der Aa, map.

•Indian lingaistic families, by J.W.Powell, in Seventh Annual Keport, Bureau of Ethnology,
1885-86 (1891), p. 11.
"Ibid., p. 10.

MOQBE] SYNONOMY OF THE STOCK 129*

Sadi — 1896; San Francisco Chronicle, January 24.

Sb-kre — Etymologic form.

Seres— 1844; Miihlenpfordt, Eepubllk Mejico, Band i, p. 210.

Sbri — 1754; [Ortega], ApostolicoB Afanes, p. 244.

Sebis — 1694; Mange, Eesumen de Notlcias (Doonmentos para la Historia de Mexico,

s^rie 4, tomo i, p. 235).
Seri Sahneros — 1842; Alegre, Historia de la Compania de Jesns, tomo iii, p. 117.
Seris Salinbbos — 1694; Mange, Besnmen de Noticias (Docnraentos, s6rie 4, tomo i,

p. 321-).
Sekys — 1754; [Ortega], ApostoUcos Afanes, p. 367.
SOBis— 1900; DeniKer, Tlie Races of Man, p. 533.
SSbri — 1883; Gatschet, Der Yuma Sprachstamm, p. 129.
Zbris — 1731; Dominguez, Diario (MS.).
Kmikk— 1879; Pinart, MS. vocabulary.
KoMKAK — 1879; Pinart, MS. vocabulary.

KuNKAAK— 1896 ; McGee and Johnson, "Seriland", Nat. Geog. Mag., vol. vii, p. 133.
Salineros — 1727; Rivera, Diario y Derrotero, 1. 514-1519.
TiBURON — 1799; Cortez (Pacific Railroad Reports, vol. lii, p. 122).
TiBUKONBS — 1792; Arricivita, Cr6nica Ser^fica, segunda parte, p. 426.
TiBUKOW Ceres— 1826; Hardy, Travels, p. 299.

TepoJca Tribe

TurBCO — 1847; Disturnell, Mapade los Estados Unidos de Mejico, New York.

Tbpoca — 1748; Villa-Seiior, Theatro Americano, p. 392.

Tepoca Ceres- 1826; Hardy, Travels, p. 299.

Tepocas — 1748; Villa-Senor, Theatro Americano, p. 391.

Tepococ — 1865; Velasco, Bol. Soo. Mex. Geog. y Estad., tomo xi, p. 125.

Tbpoka — Phonetic form.

Tepopa — 1875; Dewey, map.

Tbpoquis — 1757 ; Veuegas, Noticia, tomo il, p. 343.

ToPOKls-rl702 ; Kino, map (in Stocklein, Der Neue Welt-Bott).

ToPOQUiS — 1701; Kino, map (in Bancroft, Works, vol. xvti, 1889, p. 360).

Guayma Tribe

Baymas — 1754; [Ortega], ApostoUcos Afanes, p. 377.

Gayama — 1826 ( ?) ; Pike (Balbi), (in Pimentel, Lenguas Indigenas, tomo ii, p. 234).

Guaima — 1861 ; Buckingham Smith, Heve Grammar, p. 7.

Guaimas — 1702; Kino, map (in Stocklein, Der Neue Welt-Bott).

GUAYAMAS — 1757; Venogas, Noticias, tomo ii, p. 79.

Guay.ma — 1701; Juan Maria de Sonora, Report (Documentos para la Historia de

Mexico, s^rie 4, tomo v, p. 154).
GuAYMAS — 1700; Jnan Maria de Sonora, Report (Documentos para la Historia

de Mexico, s^rie 4, tomo v, p. 126).
GuAYMi^l882 ; Bancroft Works, vol. iil, (Native Races, vol. iii), p. 704,
GUAYMis — 1844; Muhlenpfordt, Republik Mejico, Band i, p.210.
GuBiMAS— 1748 ; Villa-Seuor, Theatro Americano, p. 401.
GuBYMAS — 1748; Villa-Senor, Theatro Americano, p. 402.
GuiAMAS— 1763; [Nentwig?], Rudo Ensayo, p. 229.
GniMiBS (?)— 1701; Kino, map (Bancroft, Works, vol. xvii, 1889, p. 360).

Upanguayma Tribe

HOUPIN GUAYMAS — 1829; Hardy, map.

JuMPANGUAYMAS — 1860; Velasco, Bol. Soc. Mex. Geog. y Estad., tomo ^iii, p. 292.
JUPANGUEIMAS — 1748 ; Villa-Senor, Theatro Americano, p. 401.
17 BTH 9

130* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.akk.17

Opan Guaimas— 1763 ; [Nentwig ?] , Kudo Ensayo, p. 229.
Upanguaima— 1864 ; Orozco y Berra, Geografia de las Lcnguas, p. 42.
Upanguaimas— 1878; Malte-Brun, Congrfes International des Am^rioanistes, tome II,

p. 38.
TJpanguayma — Synthetic form.

Upanguaymas— 1882; Bancroft, Works (Native Races, vol. i, p. 605).
Upan-Goaymas— 1890 ; Bandolier, Investigations in the Southwest, p. 75.

Possibly the name Gocomagues (1864, Orozco y Berra, Geografia de
las Lenguas, p. 42), or Oocomaques (1727, Kiver^, Diario y Derrotero, 1.
1514-1519) should be introduced among the synonyms' of the Seri, but
in the absence of definite information it may perhaps better be left
unassigned. ^

Of the four tribes assigned to the stock, the TJpanguayma have been
extinct probably for more than a century; the Gruayma may survive in
a few representatives probably of mixed blood and adopted language;
the Tepoka have never received systematic investigation, but appear to
survive in limited numbers on the eastern coast of Gulf of Califor-
nia about the embouchure of the Eio Ignacio sand-wash; while the Seri
alone continue to form a prominent factor in Sonoran thought.

External Eelations

The most conspicuous characteristic of the Seri tribe as a whole is
isolation. The geographic position and physical features of their habi-
tat favor, and indeed measurably compel, isolation: their little princi-
pality is protected on one side by stormy seas and on the other by still
more forbidding deserts; their home is too hard and poor to tempt con-
quest, and their possessions too meager to iuvite spoliation; hence,
under customary conditions, they never see neighbors save in chance
encounters on their frontier or in their own predatory forays — and in
either case the encounters are commonly inimical. The natural isola-
tion of the habitat is reflected in modes of life and habits of thought;
and during the ages the physical isolation has come to be reflected in
a bitter and implacable hereditary enmity toward aliens — an enmity
apparently forming the strongest motive in their life and thought, and
indeed grown into a persistent instinct. Thus the Seri stand alone in
every respect; they are isolated in habitat and still more intensely iso-
lated in habits of thought and life from all contemporaries ; they far
out-Ishmael the Ishmael of old on Araby's deserts.

The isolation of the Seri in thought and feeling is well illustrated
by the relations with their nearest neighbors (activitally as well as
geographically), the Papago Indians. The Papago are much esteemed
in Sonora as fearless fighters, always ready to join or even to lead a
forlorn hope; yet when the expedition of 1895 was projected it was
found no easy matter to induce the picked Papago guards quartered
at Costa Eica to enter Seriland. They were ready, indeed mildly eager,
for fray, provided it were on the frontier ; but they held back in dread

* These names seem rather to be Yuman ; cf. Cocopa, 'Coconino, Cocomaricopa, Koikun, etc.

McoEE] INTERTEIBAL, ANTIPATHIES 131*

from actual invasion of the territory of the hereditary enemy. Like
representatives of the faith-dominated culture-grades generally, they
spoke weightily of inherent rights descended from the ancient time,
even back unto the creation ; they repeatedly declared the right of the
Seri to protect their territory because it was theirs; yet their converse
but served to show the depth and persistence of their abhorrence of
the Seri and of everything pertaining to them. And when gales arose
to delay the work, when the frail craft of the party was storm-buffeted
and lost for days, when they were seized with the strange sickness of
the sea, when the salt and sugar mysteriously disappeared (having
been secretly sacrificed to diminish suffering from thirst), when all of
the earth-powers and air-powers seemed to be arrayed against the ex-
pedition, they stoically held it to be but just punishment for a sacri-
legious infraction of the ancient law — and their steady adherence to
duty, despite tradition and physical difficulty and constant danger,
revealed a real heroism. The strain was no slight one; it may have
been felt more by the stay-at-homes than by the men in action ; cer-
tainly a sister of one of the party (Anton Castillo) and spouse of a
supporter at the supply station broke under the strain, and died of
her terrors — and the return of the party was, to the Papago women and
oldsters at least, as the rising of the dead. The dread inspired by the
personal presence of the alien is stronger still; when the Seri ran-
cheria at Costa Eica was visited in 1894 it was found needful to keep
the Papago interpreter and others of the tribe at a distance, since the
mere sight of the inimical tribesmen threw even the women and children
into watchful irritation, like that of range-bred horses at scent of bear
or timber-wolf, or that of oft-harried cats and swine at sight of passing
dog — they instinctively huddled into circles facing outward, and ceased
to think connectedly under the stress of nervous tension. The irrita-
tion was so far mutual that it was days before the usually placid inter-
preter, Jos6 Lewis, recovered his normal spirits; while the 1895 inter-
preter, Hugh Norris, was actually rendered ill by the mere entrance
into Seriland at Pozo Escalante. And the antipathy between Seri and
Yaqui is nearly as great as that between the common-boundary
neighbors.

The instinctive antagonism, or race antipathy, between the Seri and
the widely distinct Caucasian is less trenchant and intense than the
local antipathy; yet even between Seri and Caucasian there would seem
to be hardly a germ of sympathy. In the days of his prime, the Tiburon
islanders flocked around Don Pascual, first as a provider of easy prov-
ender and later as a superpotent shaman whose wrath bore destruction;
yet their allegiance was never more than that of the cowed and beaten
brute to a hated trainer, and his coming never brought a smile to their
stolid features — indeed, his passage among their jacales was met with
the same stolid yet sinister indifference accorded the solitary visitor to
a menagerie of caged carnivores. And no sooner did his vision become

132* THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.ans.17

impaired tlian their fear-born veneration evaporated, and their native
antipathy reappeared in original virulence. The 1894 party was for-
tunate in successfully treating a sick wife of sub-chief Masbem, and
subsequently spent days in the rancheria, distributing gifts to old and
young in a manner unprecedented in their experience and making liberal
exchanges for such small possessions as they wished to spare; yet, with
a single possible exception, they succeeded in bringing no more human
expression to any Seri face or eye than curiosity, avidity for food, stud-
ied indifference, and shrouded or snarling disgust. Among themselves
they were fairly cheerful, and the families were unobtrusively affection-
ate; yet the cheerfulness was always chilled and often banished by the
approach of an alien. The Sonorenses generally hold the Seri in inde-
scribably deep dread as uncanny and savage monsters lying beyond
the human pale; while the reciprocal feeling on the part of the Seri
toward Caucasians, and still more toward Indian aliens, seems akin to
that of the average man toward the rattlesnake, which he flees or slays
without pause for thought — it seems nothing less than intuitive and
involuntary loathing. The Seri antipathy is at dnce deepened into an
obsession and crystallized into a cult; the highest virtue in their calendar
is the shedding of alien blood; and their normal impulse on meeting an
alien is to kill unless deterred by fear, to flee if the way is clear, and to
fawn treacherously for better opportunity if neither natural course
lies open.

Concordantly with their primary characteristic, the Seri have avoided
ethnic and demotic union beyond the narrow limits of their own kin-
dred ; and even of these they seem to have cast out parts, annihilating
the Guayma and Upanguayma, displacing and nearly destroying the
Tepoka, and outlawing individuals and (apparently) small groups.
The earlier chronicles indicate that the Jesuit missionaries, and after
them the Franciscan friars and the secular officials, sought to scatter
the tribe by both cajolery and coercion, and endeavored to divide fam-
ilies by restraint of women and children and by banishment of wives;
there are loose traditions, too, of the capture and enslavement of Indian
and Caucasian women in Seriland; yet the great fact remains that not
a single mixed-blood Seri is known to exist, and that no more than two
of the blood (Kolusio and perhaps one other) now live voluntarily
beyond the territorial and consanguineal confines of the tribe. The
romantic story of a white slave and ancestress of a Seri clan, sometimes
diffused through pernicious reportorial activity, is without shadow of
proof or probability; the tradition of the captivity of a Papago belle
was corroborated, albeit indefinitely, by Mash^m's naive admission
that an alien women was once kept as a slave to a childless death due
to her inaptitude for long wanderings; and there is not a single known
fact indicating even so much as miscibility of the Seri blood with that
of other varieties of the genus Homo. Naturally the presumption of
miscibility holds in the absence of direct evidence; yet the presumption

MCQEB] EGOISM OF THE SERI 133*

is at least partially countervailed by conspicuous biotic characters,
such as color, stature, etc., so distinctive as almost to seem specific:
the Seri are distinctively dark-skinned, their extreme color-range (so
far as known) being less than their nearest approach to any neighbor-
ing tribe; they are nearly as distinctive in stature, the difference
between their tallest and shortest normal adults being apparently less
than that between their shortest and the tallest of the neighboring
Papago — though they are not so far from the more variable and often
tall Yaqui; and they appear to be no less distinctive in such physio-
logic processes as those connected with their extraordinary food habits.
Still more distinctive are the demotic characters connected with their
habits of life and modes of thought; and when the sum of biotic and
demotic characters is taken, the Seri are found to be set apart from all
neighboring Sonoran tribes by differences much more striking than the
individual range among themselves.'

It is especially noteworthy that the Seri have held aloof from that
communality of the deserts which has brought so many tribes into
union with each other and with their animal and vegetal neighbors
through common strife against the common enemies of sun and sand —
the communality expressed in the distribution of vital colonies over
arid plains, in the toleration and domestication of animals, in the
development of agriculture, and eventually in the shaping of a com-
prehensive solidarity, with the intelligence of the highest organism as
the controlling factor.^ Dwelling on a singularly prolific shore, the
Seri never learned the hard lesson of desert solidarity, but looked on
the land merely as a place of lodgment or concealment, or as a source
of luxuries such as cactus tunas, mesquite beans, and tasty game;
they never formed the first idea of planting or cultivating, and their
only notion of harvesting and storing against time of need was the
intolerably filthy one of nature's simplest teaching; they apparently
never grasped the concept of cooperation with animals, and came to
tolerate the parasitical coyote only in that its persistence was greater
than their own, and in so far as it was stealthy enough to hide its
travail and the suckling of its young against their ravening maws;
and they apparently never rose to real recognition of their own kind
in alien forms, but set their hands against agricultural and zoocultural
humans as peculiarly potent and hence especially obnoxious animals.
Naturally their racial intolerance was seed of battle and blood-feud;
and they would doubtless have melted away under the general antag-
onism but for the natural barriers and unlimited food of their restricted
domain.

At present, as for the later and best-known decades of their history,

^ It seems probable that the Seri were nearer to tribes of southern Baja California than to those of
SoDora at the time of the earliest explorations, yet that the distinction was suf&ciently strong to
warrant the extension of the proposition to these tribes also.

'The Beginning of Agriculture, American Anthropologist, Tol. vii:, 1895, p. 350. The Begiliningof
Zooculture, ibid., vol. X, 1897, p. 215.

134* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

the Seri are absolutely without extratribal affiliations, or even sym-
pathy. When the chronicles of three centuries are scanned in the
light of recent knowledge, it seems practically certain that they have
been equally isolated since the dawn of Caucasian history in Mexico;
and both recent data and the chronicles combine with the principles
of demotic development to indicate that the Seri have stood alone from
the beginning of their tribal career, and have never foregathered with
the neighboring tribes of distinct blood, distinct arts and industries,
distinct organization, distinct language, and distinct thought and
feeling.

The present isolation of the Seri throws light on their early history
and reveals the extent of the misapprehension of the pioneer mission-
aries, who half deluded themselves and wholly deluded distant readers
into the notion that the Seri were really proselyted and actually col-
lected in the mission-adjuncts of military posts established to prStect
settlers against forays of the tribe; for, as illumined by later and fuller
knowledge of the tribal characteristics, the chronicles are seen to indi-
cate merely that a few captives, malingerers, cripples, spies, and tribal
outcasts were harbored at the missions until death and occasional
escapes brought the colonies to a natural end, with no real assimila-
tion of blood or culture on either side. So, too, the persistent tribal
antipathy reveals the error of confounding the independent or even
inimically related outbreaks of the Seri and of the Pima or Apache with
the concerted action of confederated tribes. Doubtless the ever-watch-
ful spies from Tiburon habitually gave notice of the disturbance due to
outbreaks of contemporary tribes, just as they do today when the local
soldiery are withdrawn for duty on the Yaqui frontier; naturally the
civil and military authorities were thereby led to provide for protection
against the Seri and Piato, against the Seri and Pima, or against the
Seri and Apache at each period of disturbance, just as they provided
against the Seri between periods; and it would appear that this asso-
ciation in thought and speech led to the unconscious magnification, in
the minds of the chroniclers, of a supposed alliance.

In brief, the tribal relations of the Seri seem always to have been
antipathetic, especially toward the aboriginal tribes of alien blood, in
somewhat less measure toward Caucasians, and in least — ^yet still con-
siderable — degree toward their own collinguals and (presumptive) con-
sanguineals.

Population

So far as could be ascertained by inquiries of and through Mash^ra
in 1894, the Seri tribe then comprised about 60 or 70 warriors, with
between three and four times as many women and children — i. e., the
population was apparently between ^50 and 350. The group of about
60 (including 17 warriors) seen at Costa Eica was evidently growing
rapidly, to judge from the proportion of youths of both sexes, infants
in arms, and pregnant women; and there are other indications that

MCGKEi EXTENT OP THE TRIBE 135*

the tribe is prolific and well-fitted to survive unless cut off in conse-
quence of the hereditary antipathy toward alien blood and culture.

The population estimates of the past are naturally vague. In 1645
Ribas spoke of the tribe as " a great people"; and a century later Yilla-
Senor expressed himself in somewhat similar terms, and described
their range in such manner as to indicate a population running into
thousands. A few years after Villa-Senor (in 1750), Parilla claimed
to have annihilated the entire tribe, with the exception of 28 captives;
but according to Velasco's estimates, the people numbered fully 2,000
some thirty years later, when the tribe was, however, once more nom-
inally annihilated. In 1824 Troncoso estimated the Seri at over 1,000,
and two years later Retio reckoned the population of Isla Tibnron
alone at 1,000 or 1,500, while Hardy thought the entire tribe might
number 3,000 or 4,000 at the utojost. About 1841 De Mofras put the
aggregate population at 1,500; and at the time of the vigorous inva-
sion by Audrade and Espence (1844), when a considerable number of
the tribe were captured and a few slain, the total population was esti-
mated at about 550 — though it is j)robable that a good many tribesmen
were left out of the reckoning. According to the chroniclers, a number
of the Seri were slain after, as well as before, this invasion ; and in 1846
Velasco estimated the tribe at less than 500, including 60 or 80 war-
riors. This estimate was in harmony with that made by Senor Encinas,
who reckoned the tribe at 500 or 600 at the beginning of his war, in
which half the tribe lost their lives. The figures of Velasco and Enci-
nas correspond fairly with the reckoning by Mash6m in 1894, due
allowance being made for natural increase and for the losses through
occasional skirmishes ; and Mash^m's count is shown not to be exces-
sive by the oonsilierable number of jacales and rancherias and well-
trodden pathways found throughout Seriland in 1895.

On the whole it seems j)robable that the Seri population extended
well into the thousands at the time of the Caucasian invasion ; it seems
probable, also, that the body was then too large for stability under its
feeble institutional bonds, and hence threw off by fission the Guayma
and TJpanguayma fractions, and the Angeles, Populo, and Pueblo Seri
fragments. Furthermore, it seems probable that the prolific group
fairly held its own against these normal losses and repeated decima-
tions by battle up to the Migueletes-Cimarrones war of 1780, despite
the vaunted annihilation in 1750; but that thenceforward the death-
rate due to increasingly frequent encounters with Incoming settlers
exceeded the birth-rate, gradually reducing the tribe from some 2,000
to the 250 or 300 surviving the Encinas conflict. Finally, it seems
probable th'at the tribe has again held its own and perhaps increased
slowly under the renewed isolation of the last decade or two.

SOMATIC OHAKAOTBES

Several physical characteristics of the Seri Indians are so conspicuous
as to attract attention even at first sight. Perhaps the most striking
is the noble stature and erect yet easy carriage; next in prominence is
the dark skin-tint; a third is the breadth and depth of chest; another
is the slenderness of limbs and disproportionately large size of extremi-
ties, especially the feet; still another is length and luxuriance of hair;
and an impressive character is a peculiar movement in wjalking and
running.

The mean stature of the adult Seri may be estimated at about 6 feet
(1.825 meters) for the males, and 6 feet 8 inches (1.727 meters) or 5 feet
9 inches (1.73 meters) for the females, these estimates resting on visual
comparisons between Caucasians of known stature and about forty
adult Seri of both sexes at Costa Eica in 1894. In several of the
accompanying photomechanical reproductions (e., g., plates xiir, xvi,
XIX, xxiii, and xxviii) a unit figure, introduced partly for the encour-
agement of the individuals and groups but chiefly to afl'ord a basis for
approximate measurement, gives opportunity for test of the estimate,
the figure measuring 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 meters) to 5 feet llj inches
(1.812 meters), and weighing about 215 pounds in the costume shown,
including hat and boots.^ These pictures and some thirty unpublished
photographs, like the observations on the ground, indicate that practi-
cally all of the fully adult males and several of the females overtop the
Caucasian unit. The only definite measurement known is that of the
youthful and apparently immature female skeleton examined by Dr
Hrdlicka, of which the dimensions indicate a stature (estimated by the
method of Manouvrier) of about 5 feet 3§ inches (1.C2 meters),^ or 3J
inches above the female normal of 5 feet J inch (1.53 meters) given by
Topinard; but this considerable stature is, probably on account of tke
youth of the subject, much below the mean indicated by the ocular and
photographic comparisons (it corresponds fairly with that of the Seri
maiden represented in plate xxv, whose age was estimated at 18 years).
Naturally this striking stature, especially that of the warriors, has
been much exaggerated by casual observers; the typical warrior, El
Mudo, depicted in plate xix, is indeed commonly reckoned as a 7-footer,
though his actual stature (diminished somewhat in ihe pictures by fear-
some shrinking from the ordeal of photographing) can hardly exceed

1 The average net height and weight of the unit figure (that of the author) are about 5 feet 8g inches
and 200 pounds, respectively.

'Or about 1.6176 meters estimated by the method of Rollet (of. The Races of Man, J. Deniker,
London, 1900, p. 33).
136»

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MCGEE] STATURE AND COLOR 137*

6 feet 3 inches (1.90 meters) ; while for centuries the folk have been
repnted a tribe of giants.

The estimation of Seri stature is difficilitated by the impossibility of
defining maturity; and the effort to determine whether particular indi-
viduals were adult brought out clear indications of slowness in reach-
ing complete maturity, i. e., of the continuation of somatic growth
throughout an exceptionally long term in proportion to other stages in
the life of the individual. Thus, with scarcely an exception, the polyp-
arous matrons were taller than the mean of 5 feet 9 inches, while the
apparently adult maidens (with one exception) and the younger wives
were below this mean; and in like manner the stature of the warriors
varied approximately with appearance of age, all of the younger men
falling below the mean, and all of the older (except Mash6m) rising
above it. The difficulty of estimation is further increased by the absence
of age records and the impracticability of ascertaining and standardiz-
ing the habitually guarded expressions for relative age implied in the
kinship terminology ; so that the age determinations were roughly rela-
tive merely, and there was no means of fixing the absolute age of
maturity, of puberty, of marriage, or of the assumption of manhood
and womanhood howsoever defined.

Under the conditions, the determination of stature-range in the Seri
rancheria at Costa Rica in 1894 was not only dif&cult but uncertain;
yet in general terms it may be said that the women having two or more
children — about twenty in number — were notably uniform in stature,
ranging from about 5 feet 7J inches (in the case of an aged and shrunken
elderwoman) to 5 feet 11 inches; that the younger women were more
variable; and that the warriors (seventeen in number), of whom only a
part were apparently heads of families, were more variable still, though
the variation, apart from that apparently correlated with age, was less
than is customarily found among the exceptionally uniform Papago,
and decidedly less than that seen among the Yaqui or the local
Mexicans.

The Seri skin-tint is of the usual Amerindian bronze, save that it is
exceptionally darjj, with a decided tone of black. Essayed representa-
tions of the characteristic color appear in plates xviii and xxiv; but
the essays are little more satisfactory than the innumerable attempts
at depicting the skin-color of the American aborigines that have gone
before. Experienced observers of the native tribes may form an impres-
sion of the Seri color from the explanation that they are as much darker
than the neighboring Papago as the Papago are darker than the aver-
age tribesmen about the Great lakes; the Papago themselves being
as much darker than the southern plains or Pueblo folk as these are
darker than those of the Lake region. The range in color seems to be
slight; the variation among the 60 individuals of both sexes and all
ages seen at Costa Eica was hardly perceptible, being less than that
usually observed in a single family of any neighboring tribe; while the

138* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.akn.17

color distinction alone sufficed to distinguish the Seri from any other
people at a glance.

Foremost among the general somatic distinctions between the Cau-
casian and the American native is the peripheral development of the
former, displayed in better-muscled limbs, more expressive features,
etc— i. e., the Caucasian body expresses a readily perceptible but diffi-
cultly describableperipherization, in contradistinction from the centrali-
zation displayed by the aboriginal body. Save in a single particular
(the large feet and hands), the Seri exemplify this distinction in remark-
able degree: their chests are strikingly broad, deep, and long, recalling
the thoroughbred racer or greyhound ; their waists are shortened by
the chest development, yet are rather slender; their hips are broad
and deep, with a clean-cut yet massive gluteal development; and,
in comparison with the robust yet compact bodies, the tapering arms
and legs seem incongruously slender.^ This physical characteristic,
like that of color, is insusceptible of quantitative expression, at
least without much more refined observations than have been made;
but its value may be indicated roughly by the statement that the
Seri differs from the average aboriginal American in degree of somatic
concentration as much as the average aborigine difl'ers from the
average Caucasian — though it is noteworthy that the departure in
this direction from the aboriginal mean is in some measure regional
(i. e., the Seri differ less in this respect from the Papago and other
swift-footed natives than from the average tribesmen of the continent).
The Seri robustness of body and slenderness of limb are brought out by
the absence (in appearance at least) of adipose; the skin is strikingly
firm and hard and evidently thick, yet the play of muscle and tendon
beneath indicate a dearth of connective tissue and convey that impres-
sion of physical vigor which their familiars so miss in the photographs;
and in no case, save perhaps in the young babe, could the slighest
trace of obesity be discerned. Thus the Seri, male and female, young
and old, may be described as notably deei)-ohested and clean-limbed
quick-steppers, or as human thoroughbreds.

The somatic symmetry of the average Seri, marred somewhat by ^e
slenderness of limb, is still more marred by the large extremities. The
band is broad and long, the fingers are relatively long as those of the
Caucasian, the nails are peculiarly thick and strong, and the skin is so
thick and calloused as to give a clumsy look to the entire organ; the feet
are still larger and thicker-skinned, appearing disproportionately long
and broad for even the heroic stature of the tallest warriors. The integu-
ment covering the feet, ankles, and lower legs is incredibly firmandhard,
more resembling that of horse or camel than the ordinary human type;

■ The plioto-meohanioal reproductions do but meager juslloe to tlie splendid chest development of
the Seri, young and old ; for they were not only at semisomnolent rest during the hotter hours at
ivhioh photography was most feasible, but invariably quailed before the mysterious apparatus and
crouched shrinkingly in such wise as to contract their chests and lose their habitually erect and
expansive carriage.

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MOGEE] PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS 139*

its astounding protective efficiency being attested by the readiness with
which the Seri run through cactus thickets so thorny as to stop horses and
dogs, or over conglomerated spall-beds so sharp that even the light coyote
leaves their trail. In the absence of measurements it may merely be
noted that the hands and feet of'the Seri are materially larger, not only
absolutely but relatively to their stature, than those of neighboring
tribesmen or even of Mexican and American workmen. . And, on the
whole, it may be said that in their proportions, as in their stature and
color, the Seri are strikingly uniform, their range being less than that
commonly observed in contemporary tribes, and the diflereuces between
them and their neighbors much exceeding the range among themselves.

Somatically distinctive as is the Seri at rest, he (or she) is much
more so in motion — though the characteristics so readily caught by the
eye are not easily analyzed and described. Perhaps the most con-
spicuous element in their walk is a peculiarly quick knee movement,
bringing the foot upward and forward at the end of the stride; this
merges into an equally quick thrust of the foot forward and downward,
with toe well advanced, toward the beginning of the next stride; and
these motions combine to produce a singular erectness and steadiness
of carriage, the body moving in a nearly direct line with a minimum of
lateral swaying or vertical oscillation, while the legs neither drag nor
swing, but spurn the ground in successive strokes. Thus the walk
seems notably easy and graceful, while the walker carries an air of
alertness and reserve power, as if able to stop short at any point of a
pace or to bolt forward or backward or sidewise with equal facility;
he simulates the "collected" animal whose feet tap the ground lightly
and swiftly while his body appears to yield freely to voluntary impulse.
In this deer-like or antelope-like movement all the Seri are much alike,
and all are decidedly removed from their neighbors, even the light-
footed Papago. . The component motions are most conspicuous in lei-
surely walking, though the resultant movement is more striking in
rapid walk or the incredibly swift run of youths and adults. The gen-
eral movement is akin to that shaped by the habit of carrying burdens
balanced on the head, as the Seri women actually carry their water
oUas for astonishing distances; but the carriage is shared — indeed,
best displayed — by the warriors and growing boys, who are not known
to carry water in this way.

Among the conspicuous but nondistinctive somatic characters of the
Seri is luxuriant straight hair, habitually worn long and loose. Com-
monly the hair is jet-black for most of the length, growing tawny
toward the tips; sometimes it is black throughout, while again the
tawny tinge, or perhaps a bleached appearance, extends well toward
the scalp, Age-grayness seems not to be characteristic; the most aged
matrons known have no more than a few inconspicuous and scattered
gray hairs, though the pelage of some is slightly bleached or faded.
ISone of the warriors at Costa Eica showed the slightest grayness except

140* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

Mashdm (aged about 50 years), who had a few gray strands about the
temples; but it may be significant that the hair of the tribal outlaw
Kolusio, who has lived with white men for full three score years, is iron-
gray. Kolusio's pelage is trimmed in Oaucasioii fashion ; that of Mash6m
is cut oif mid-length in a manner exciting comment, if not derision,
on the part of his fellows and others, and resulting in his (Spanish)
sobriquet, Pelado (literally, Peeled, or idiomatically, Shorn) ; but with
few exceptions the hair is kept long as it can be made to grow, and
receives careful attention to this end. Naturally the length is some-
what variable; in many cases it depends to or slightly below the waist,
while in other cases it merely sweeps the shoulders; and in general it
appears to increase in both length and luxuriance not only throughout
adolescence, but up to late maturity, for the best pelages are presented
by moderately aged persons, while none of the youths are so luxuriantly
tressed as their elders. Not the slightest trace of baldness appears.
The infantile pelage is short, brownish in color, soft or even silky, and
inclined to curl toward the tips. It is not until the age of several
months that the hair begins to acquire the adult character, and at
least some children retain traces of the infantile pilary character up to
5 or even 10 years; and none of the children display such jet-black
shock-heads as are frequently found among other tribes, whose adult
pelage may nevertheless be much less luxuriant than that of the Seri.
On the whole, it may be said that the Seri hair is luxuriant and vigorous
beyond the aboriginal average, and that it, like various other somatic
features, indicates a relatively late maturation in the life-history of the
individual.

Both sexes are beardless. The female faces seen were entirely free ot
strong pilary growth ; one or two of the warrior faces showed scattering
hairs, and Mash6m sported a feeble and downy but jet-black mustache
with an exceptional number of scattered hairs about the chin; while
Kolusio shaved regularly, and might, apparently, have grown moder-
ately stiff but straggling mustaches and beard. Axillary hair seems to
be wanting; pubic hair is said to be scanty; otherwise the bodies are
practically hairless (more nearly so than those of average Caucasians).

The teeth are solid, dose-set, and even, and impress the observer as
large; they close with the upper incisors projecting slightly beyond
the lower denture in the usual manner.

The skeletal characteristics of the Seri are known only from a single
specimen obtained in the course of the 1895 expedition in such manner
as to establish the identification beyond shadow of question. This
skeleton was submitted to Dr Ales HrdliCka for measurement and
discussion.'

In making his examination, Dr Hrdlicka compared the unquestion-

^A separate cranium was obtained by the 1895 expeditiou, having; been sought and picked up by a
Mexican member of the party in verification of his account of the killing of one of the Seri; but, in
view of the possibility of erroneous Identification, this skull was not submitted in connection with

MCGBE] THE SERI SKULL 141*

ably authentic cranium of the entire skeleton with two skulls preserved
In the American Museum of Natural History, viz, No. 99/84, designated
as a skull of aTiburon mound-builder, and No. 99/85, labeled as having

the complete skeleton. Subsequently this specimen also was put in Dr Hrdli^ka's hands (at his
request), and was kindly examined, with the results recorded in the following letter:

Mabch 29, 190O.
Professor W J McGee,

Sureau of American Ethnology, Washington, D. 0.

Dear SiB: The skull which you submitted to rae for examination shows the following:

The skull is that of a male between 40 and 50 years of age. The facial parts and a portion of the
left temporal bone are wanting ; otherwise the specimen shows nothing pathologic. There are signs
that the skull belonged to a very muscular individual. The occipital depressions, ridges,' and protu-
berance are very marked, and the temporal ridges approach to within 1.7 cm. on the left and 2.3 cm.
on the right of the sagittal suture. The whole skull is rather heavy and massive; thickness of parie-
tal bones 4-8 mm.

The shape of the skull is unusual. The frontal region is rather broad (frontal diameter, minimum,
9.7 J frontal diameter, maximum, 12.1 cm.), but quite flat and sloping. Frontal ridges wanting (broken
away) .

The sagittal region is elevated into a crest which begins i cm. posteriorly from the bregma, is most
marked at the vertex, and proceeds in two tapering diverging crura to the lambdoid suture. The
whole vertex region is considerably elevated and forms a blunt cone, which is particularly notice-
able when the skull is viewed from the side.

The temporo-parietal regions are moderately convex and expanded anteriorly, but become flattened
and gradually narrow toward the parietal bosses. The parietal bones measure each 11 cm. along the
coronal, but only 8.8 cm. along the lambdoid suture. The gradual tapering of the parietal regions
from their middle backward continues on the occipital bone up to the inion, and gives the norma ver-
ticalis of the skull a peculiar appearance.

The occipital region, as a whole, does not protrude much, as in true dolichocephals, but it shows a
prominent broad crest, formed by the two superior semicircular lines and the region between t^jem.
The extreme occipital protuberance is pronounced and shows signs of strong mnscular attachments.
A small distance above the foramen magnum, on each side of the median line, is a very marked
depression, surmounted by a dull ridge.

Of the mastoids, the right has been broken oif and the left is damaged, but they do not seem to have
been of extraordinary size.

The base of the skull is fairly well preserved and shows the following characters: The basilar pro-
cess and the petrous portions of the temporal bones are more massive than Tisual. The glenoid fossae
are broad and of fair depth. The styloids are quite diminutive (right 0.7, left 0.5 cm. long). The
foramen magnum is hexagonal in outline; it is 4.4 cm. long, 3.4 cm. wide; its plane is inclined back-
wards in such a way that its antero-posterior diameter prolonged would touch about the lower bor-
ders of the nasal aperture.

The cranial cavity can be well inspected through the opening caused by injury. The internal sur-
face of the frontal bone shows but very few traces of brain impressions. There are several large
impressions on each parietal bone, and deep, though rather small, fossse for the extremities of the
occipital lobes on the occipital bone. The superior border of the dorsum sellae shows in the middle
a rounded notch about 3 mm. deep.

The serration of the sutures is throughout very simple.

Measures— The glabello-occipital length and maximum width of the skull can not be accurately
determined on account of injuries to the bones. They amount, respectively, to about 18.8 and 14 cm.,
giving the cephalic index of about 74.4 (moderate dolichocepbaly). The basion-bregma height is 14.1
cm. ; bas ion-vertex, 14.8 cm. ; basion-obelion, 13.6 cm. ; basion-lambda, 12.2 cm. The two more anterior
of these measures characterize the skull as a rather high one. The two more posterior measures
show the rapid downward slope of the posterior half of the sagittal region. The maximum circum-
ference of the skull (above the ridges) is 52 cm.

The bregma-lambda arc measures 13.3, the lambda-opisthion arc 12.2 cm. Diameter between the
a8terion8--10.7 cm.

If the skull under examination is considered from a purely evolutionary standpoint, it must be
pronounced to be in many points inferior to the average white and even to the majority of Indian
crania. An anthropological i nd en tifi cation of the specimen is difficult, for the reason that we are still
very imperfectly acquainted with the craniology of the peoples of southwestern United States and
northern Mexico. From what we know of the crania of the Pima, and the extinct Santa Barbara,
Santa Catalina, etc, Californians, it is possible to say that the individual whose skull is here
reported upon may have belonged to a people physically related to either of these groups. The skull
is very distinct from that of an Apache. The female Seri cranium examined by me before does not
show certain of the peculiarities of this specimen; nevertheless it is very nossible that both crauia
belonged to individuals of the same tribe.

Ale§ HbdliCka.

142*

THE SEEI INDIANS

[BTH. ANN. 17

been found in a shell mound at Tiburon, California; but, in view of the
possible error in identification in these cases, the comparisons are
omitted. Otherwise, Dr Hrdlifika's determinations are as recorded in
the following report (and his drawings of the anterior and left lateral
aspects of the cranium are reproduced in figure 6) :

Fig. 6 — Anterior and left lateral aspects of Seri cranium.

REPOET ON AN EXAMINATION OP A SKELETON FROM SEEILAND
[By Dr Alb§ HkdliCka, Associate in Anthropology, Pathological Institute, New Xork]

The Skeleton

All the bones of the skeleton are present, except the sternum, the coccyx, a few of
the teeth, and a few of the small bones of the extremities.

It is a skeleton of a young adult, between 20 and 24 years of age, female. The
age of the subject is indicated mainly by the unattached epiphyses of the long and
some of the short bones, those epiphyses, namely, which are the last to coossify.
The femininity of the subject is indicated by the generally slightly marked ridges,
etc, of muscular attachment, and by the decidedly feminine character of the pelvis
(light, well-spread ilia, broad subpubic arch) and of the skull (lack of supraorbital
ridges, thin dental arches, small mastoids, etc).

There are no wounds or pathological- conditions noticeable on the skeleton.
Several peculiarities and anomalies are observable. They will he described with
the parts they concern.

The measurements to follow are expressed in centimeters. The French anthropo-
metric methods and nomenclature have been adopted.

The Skull

The skull is of fair size, and is symmetrical throughout, with the exception of a
slight irregularity in the occipital region . All the sutures, with the exception of the
basilar, open; nerve foramina all large; serrations rather simple; no intercalate
bones of any kind.

Norma frontalis — Visage symmetrical. Forehead well arched, niedium height.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XV

SERI MOTHER AND CHILD

MCGEE] THE SERI- SKULL 143*

Supraorbital ridges almost absent; glabella convex. Nasion depression medium.
Orbits obliquely quadrilateral ; their axes (internal inferior corner — internal superior
corner) meet at ophryon. Spheno-maxillary fissure, lachrymal canal, and nerve
foramina all above average in size. Nasal bones well bridged, very slightly concave;
nasal aperture regular; no " gouttiferes'' ; turbinated bones well formed; septum
wanting; spine 0.6.5 long, bifid at the end. Zygomse of medium size and strength.
Superior maxilla of medium size, well formed. Dental arches regular; no progna-
thism. Bone of lower jaw moderately strong; does not protrude anteriorly; con-
formation normal.

Norma iasalis — Contour almost round. Whole base symmetrical, except as noted
below ; the middle structures appear shortened antero-posteriorly, slightly more on
the left than on the right ; basilo-vomeric angle rather acute (100°) ; foramina of the
base all spacious; the petrobasilar suture is large (average diameter, 5 am.) and is
throughout pervious. Superior dental arch regular and of medium thickness. Den-
tition incomplete — right upper wisdom tooth not fully erupted; left lower wisdom
tooth wanting entirely. Denture fine and regular ; no teeth decayed. Both upper
first incisors absent.' Teeth set regularly in socket and of medium size. Palatine
arch symmetrical. Shape of palate normal. Posterior nasal foramina oblong.
Styloids small, shell-like, flattened.

Norma occipitalis — The iiosterior part of the skull is somewhat flattened. The
sides of the surface present a pentagonal outline with rounded corners, the apex
corresponding to the sagittal suture, or obelion. There is a slight asymmetry, the
right side being somewhat flattened. Exterior occipital protuberance not well
marked.

Norma verticalis — Outline an irregular ovoid, wider posteriorly and more promi-
nent on the left and posteriorly. Slight symmetrical depression of the parietals,
beginning about 1 cm. and ending 5 or 6 cm. behind the coronal suture and extending
laterally from the sagittal suture to the upper temporal ridge.

Norma lateralis — Outline ovoid, larger posteriorly. Pterions en H, of medium
breadth. Temporal ridges not very distinct. Parietal bosses prominent.

00.

Skull capacity, Broca's method 1, 545

Skull capacity. Flower's method 1, 490

Antero-posterior diameter, maximum 16. 3

Lateral diameter, maximum 14. 4

Cephalic index, 88. 3=:Brachycephalic.°

Chin-bregma 21. 2

Chin-ophryon 13. 2

Alveolar point-ophryon 8.6

Bizygomatio breadth, maximum 13.

Facial index 98. 5

Superior facial index (Broca's), 66.1 = Mesoseme.

Height of nose aperture 5. 4

Breadth of nose aperture 2. 65

Nasal index, 49.0=Me8orhine.

Mean height of orbits 3.80

Mean breadth of orbits 3.95

' Both these incisors were apparently lost at the same time, not from general lesion, and some years
previous to the death of the individual, as the sockets appear exactly alike, bear no signs of violence,
and are almost filled up with cancellous tissue (some religious.or social rite?).

^If allowance is made for the effects of flattening of the occipital ou the long diameter, and hence
on the index, of a skull, it becomes apparent that the true index of this skull is probably of a low
brachycephalic, or, at most, of mesocepbalic order. Itis very doubtful if thedeformityis intentioualj
its moderate extent and the total lack of si^^ns of counter-compression would indicate with more prob-
ability that the deformity might have been produced by the individual lying, when an infant, by
compulsion or habit, on something hiird, probably a board.

144* THE SERI INDIANS [eth,ann.17

Orbital index, 96.2=Mega8eme. co.

Mean depth of orbits 4.6

Dacrj-on to daoryon 2.3

Frontal diarUeter, miuimnm 9. 2

Frontal diameter, maximum (interstephanic) 11. 4

Biauricular diameter' 12.3

Diameter through parietal bosses 14. 3

Bimastoid diameter 10.55

Distance from superior alveolar arch to inferior occipital

ridge !*• ^"^

Distance between silpramastoid eminences 13. 9

Length of basilar process (notch of vomer to basion) 2. 95

Basion-bregma height 13. 45

Basion-obelion height ? (obelion indistinct. )

Basion-ophryon - I'J-

Basion-inion ^-1

Circumference, maximum 49. 4

Nasion-ophryon arc - 1-8

Nasion-bregma arc 12. 3

Nasion-inion arc 30.

Nasion-opisthion arc 35. 5

Pterion-bregma arc 11.2

Arc external meatuses, over forehead 29. 2

Arc external meatuses, over frontal bosses 30. 4

Arc external meatuses, over hregma 34.

Arc external meatuses, maximum 35. 7

Arc external meatuses, over inion 23. 6

Temporal ridges to sagittal suture (stephanions-bregma),

(arc) mean 7. 5

Lateral diameter of foramen magniim, maximum 2. 75

Antero-posterior diameter of foramen magnum, maximum. 3. 60

Index of foramen magnum 76. 4 '

Length of hard palate, maximum 4. 6

Height of hard palate at first molars 1. 55

Breadth of hard palate at first bicuspids 2. 9

Breadth of hard palate at first molars 3. 55

Breadth of hard palate at third molars 4. 1

Height of posterior nares 3. 1

Breadth of posterior nares 2. 55

Index of posterior nares 82. 2

Angle of mandibles 114^

Length of mandibular rami 9. 55

Bigoniao diameter of mandibles 9. 85

The Vertehral Column

Cervical vertebras — Number complete; characters normal. All cervical spinous
processes bifid ; vertebra prominens well defined. All epiphyses absent.

cc.
Transverse diameter of third cervical vertebra (between

posterior tubercles of the pedicles), maximum 5. 05

Antero-posterior diameter of third cervical vertebra (body-

spinous process), maximum 4. 20

Greatest lateral diameter of foramen, same vertebra 2. 15

^ Tlie " biauricular" signifies the di-stance between points of the skull immediately above the com-
mencement of the superior zygomatic border on the temporal.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XVI

GROUP OF SERI BOYS

MCGEK] THE SERI SKELETON 145*

Greatest antero-posterior diameter of foramen, same verte-
bra 1. 45

Height of body in center, same vertebra 90

Dorsal vertebral — Number complete; characters absolutely normal. Resemblance
to lumbar processes begins with tenth dorsal vertebra; a number of the epiphyses of
the various processes either imperfectly united or detached ; body epiphyses absent.

cc.
Antero-posterior diameter of body of sixth dorsal vertebra,

maximum 2.55

Lateral diameter of body of sixth dorsal vertebra, maxi-
mum : 2.90

Height of body in center 1. 67

Separation of transverse processes 5. 63

Edge of upper articular processes-tip of spinous proc-
esses - 5. 50

Breadth of foramen, maximum 1. 60

Length of foramen, maximum 1. 50

/ •

Lumbar veriebrm — Number complete; characters absolutely normal. Only disk

epiphyses detached.

cc.

Antero-posterior diameter of body, maximum 3. 12

Antero-posterior diameter of whole vertebrae, maximum . . 7. 10

Lateral diameter of body, maximum 4. 55

Lateral diameter of transverse processes, maximum 7. 10

Height of articular processes, maximum 4. 33

Height of body in center, maximum 2. 20

Antero-posterior diameter of canal, maximum 1. 50

Lateral diameter of canal, maximum 2. 10

The Sacrum

Aspect normal with the following exception : There are distinct intervertebral
disks between the different segments (5 segments) ; there are deep lateral incisures
in places where the lateral processes unite, and the fourth and fifth segments are
entirely separated (in one piece) from the upper three (four small spots of coossifi-
cation along the posterior border of the articulation are visible). The articulai
processes of the first and second sacral segments are similar in form to the lumbar,
and form open articulations. There is a large foramen situated below the spinous
processes of the first and third segment, and A smaller beneath the second. Coccyx
absent. Curvature medium.

CO.

Breadth of the sacrum, maximum 10.5

Height of the sacrum, maximum 11.2

Lidex of the sacrum 93.7

The Thoracic Cage

Aspect of ribs normal. Strength medium. Sternum absent.

Length second right rib (arc) 21. 8

Long diameter second right rib 12. 5

Maximum height of the curve 7. 2

Length ninth right rib (arc) 28. 8

Long diameter ninth right rib 18. 7

Maximum height of curve 8.45

17 ETH 10

146* THE SERI INDIANS [bth.aiin.17

Bones of the Upper lAmbs ■

Clavicles — Form normal, slender; epiphyses united. Length, maximum, 13.5.
Muscular attachments of slight prominence.

SeapwlcB — Form noririal, spine directed somewhat more upward than is usual;
whole bone light and slender; acromial epiphyses absent.

Height (middle of glenoid fossa-tip of inferior angle) 12.

13readth (middle of glenoid point, maximum) 8. 7

Mumeri — Form normal; bone slender; head-epiphyses not united ; left head per-
forated by large oval foramen from coronoid to olecranon fossa (8 mm. by 4^ mm.)

Length of left humerus (with epiphysis) 31. 3

Length of right humerus (with epiphysis) 31.

UXnw and radii— FoTm-aoimal; bones slender ; lower epiphyses ununited.

Length of left radius (head and end of styloid) 24. 1

Length of left ulna (olecranon-styloid) 25. 8

Metaca/rpus, carpus, and phalanges — Nothing special.

Bones of the Pelvis and Lower Limhs *

All the bones of the pelvis and lower limbs of normal shape and medium size.
Pelvis apparently that of a female (subpubic angle 100°). Bones well united,
all traces of the union in acetabulum effaced. Epiphyses ununited except on the
ischiatic protuberances, where bony union just begins. Above the fossa acetabuli
(8 mm. postero-superiorly from the uppermost edge of the fossa) there is in both
acetabula an irregularly triangular depression of about 2 water-drops capacity
(accessory tendon f).

Anterior to posterior-superior spine 13. 7

Point of pubis to posterior-superior spine 15. 8

Point of pubis to anterior-superior spine 12. 7

Point of pubis to point of ischium 10. 8

Biiliac diameter of whole bony pelvis (between internal

iliac borders), maximum 21.

Height- of coxal bones (tuberosity of ischium to iliac bor-
der in this case without its epiphyses), maximum 19.4

Antero-posterior diameter of superior strait 11. 8

Lateral diameter of superior strai t 11. 4

Oblique diameter of superior strait 11. 3

Height of subject (determined after Manouvrier's method) about 1.620 m. (above
the general average).
Femurs — Lower epiphyses ununited. Muscular attachments, including linea
aspera, but little prominent.

Length of femurs (both condyles applied to base) 43. 6 ,

Inclination of neck to shaft 130°

Ti'bi(B — Both platycnemic. All the epiphyses ununited, especially the upper.

Antero-posterior diameter at center^ maximum 2.5

Lateral diameter at center, maximum 1. 62

Length (articular surface-tip of styloid) 35. 6

Femoro-tlbial index /length of tibia X 1001 33 ^
llength of femora J .

This index is 81 in the European, 83 in the negro, and 86 in the Bushman.'
Fihiila — Length, 35.2. Epiphyses not yet united, particularly the upper.
Tarsal, metatarsal, and phalangial hones — Nothing special.

' Quain, Anatomy, 1893 : Osteology, p. 127.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XVII

MASHEM, SERI INTERPRETER

MoaBE] THE SERI SKELETON 147*

BSsume of the Peculiarities of the Skeleton

The nerve and blood-vessel foramina are generally large. This character and the
platycnemic tibiae indicate an ample musculature of the subject.

The height is above thegeneral average for a woman, which, according to Topinard,
is 1.53.

The petro-basilar fissures are large and visibly pervious. This condition is found
occasionally; significance doubtful; it is more frequent in young subjects.

Platycnemic tibiae — This is considered a simian character.' It was found first by
Broca in 1868^ on bones from Eyzies; it is associated with relative strength of the
muscles of the leg; is very frequent among the characters found on bones from the
epoch of polished stone in Europe.^ J. Wyman found this character more accentu-
ated than at Cro-Magnou or at Gibraltar on a third of the tibias from the mounds
of the United States.'

Perforated Aliments— Noticed first by Desmoulins, 1826, on the humeri of Guanches
and Hottentots ;'' occurs with greatest frequency in the following peoples : ■

Per cent.

156 neolithic humeri from around Paris 21. 8

97 humeri of African negroes 21. 7

122 humeri of Guanches 25.6

80 humeri frgm the mounds of United States (J. Wyman) . . 31. 2

32 humeri of Polynesians 34. 3

30 humeri of altaic and American races 36.2

Summarily, Dr Hrdlicka's special determinations conform with the
external observations on the Seri body; they indicate an exceptionally
large stature, together with a notably well-developed and well-propor-
tioned osseous framework, of the native American type, yet signifi-
cantly approaching the Caucasian in several respects. It is especially
noteworthy that the cranium is well formed and capacious, the precise
measurements corroborating the external observation that the Seri
head is of good absolute size, though relatively smaller (in comparison
with height and weight) than that of some neighboring tribes of less
stature — e. g., the Papago, It may be noted, too, that the imperfect
ankylosis of the epiphyses, and various other skeletal features, are in
accord with the inferences from tbe living body as to the slowness of
attaining maturity. It may be noted further that the extraordinary
development of the muscular attachments, especially in the masculine
cranium, is quite in harmony with the habits of the tribe.

The remaining somatic characteristics of the Seri are for the greater
part of such sort as to be described by generalities and negatives. In
general they correspond with those of typical American tribesmen and
other peoples ; and they do not exhibit striking peculiarities in propor-
tion or structure. In the opposability of the thumb, the nonopposa-
bility of the hallux, and the independence of fingers and toes, the Seri
hands and feet are developed quite up to, if not somewhat beyond, the

> Hovelacque et HervA, Precis d'Anthropologie, 1887, pp. 112, 2937.

'Eulletin de la Socl6t6 d'Anthropologie, 1868.

s Hovelacque et Herv6, op. cit., p. 113,

^Histoire Naturelle des Eaflcs Humaines, 1826, p. 304.

"•Hovelacque et Herv6, op. cit., p. 291.

148* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

Amierindian ' average; the feet are set straight in walking, as befits the
pedestrian habit; the arms are not elongated, and the thighs seem no
longer in proportion to other elements of the stature than are those of
the highest human types. In like manner the bodies are notably free
from artificial deformation; the skulls are not flattened or otherwise
distorted; there is no scarification, or even tattooing; neither ears nor
lips are pierced for pendants or labrets; the teeth are not filed or
drilled, though in some cases at least the first Incisors of females are
extracted ; and while there are trustworthy records of the piercing of
the nasal septum for the insertion of pendants, no examples were found
at Costa Rica in 1894. The food habits and other customs of the tribe
indicate, or at least suggest, more or less specialized and perhaps dis-
tinctive internal characters; but, without actual examination of the
organs, these inferred characters demand little more than passing notice.

On reviewing the more prominent somatic characters of the Seri, it
is found that the greater number are either functional or presump-
tively correlated with function, and that only a few — chiefly stature
and color — are simply structural; accordingly a comparison of the
peculiar somatic features and the peculiar individual habits of the
tnbe would seem to be instructive in more than ordinary degree.

The most striking trait of the Seri is the pedestrian habit. The
warriors and women and children alike are habitual rovers ; their jacales
and even their largest rancherias are only temporary domiciles, evi-
dently vacant oftener than occupied; the principal rancherias are
separated by a hard day's journey or more; and none of the known
rancherias or jacales of more persistent use are nearer than 4 to 10
miles from the fresh water by which their occupants are supplied.
Probably the most persistently occupied rancherias of the last half
century have been those located from time to time near Oosta Rica,
yet even these were seldom occupied by the same group for more than
a fortnight or possibly a month, and were often vacated within a day
or two after erection. Still more temporary camps intervene between
jacales, and their sites may be seen in numbers in the neighborhood of
the better-beaten paths, or along the shores, or even over the track-
less spall-strewn plains ; they may be merely trampled spots, sparsely
strewn with oyster shells and large boties gnawed at the ends, usually
in the lea of a shrub or rock; in places of small shrubbery or excep-
tionally abundant grass there may be two or three or perhaps half a
dozen "forms" (suggesting the temporary resting places of rabbits), in
which robust bodies nestled and shrugged themselves into the warm
earth and under the meager vegetation. Rarely there are ashes and
cinders hard by, to mark the site of a tiny fire, and more frequently
battered and stained or greasy bowlders record their own use as meat-

'The term Amerind (with the self-explanatory mwtntiona Amerindian, Amerindize, etc.) has been
established by the Anthropological Society of "Washington as a convenient collective designation for
the aboriginal American tribes (American Anthropologist, new series, vol. 1, 1899, p. 582).

MCQEE] THE PEDESTRIAN HABIT 149*

blocks or metates, though it is manifest that most of the camps were
fireless and many foodless. It is particularly noteworthy that even
the more temporary resting-places are seldom if ever less than a mile
or two from the nearest fresh water. In short, the Seri are not a domi-
ciliary folk, but rather homeless wanderers, customarily roving from
place to place, frequently if not commonly sleeping where overtaken
by exhaustion or storm, ordinarily slumbering through a part of the
day and watching by night, habitually avoiding fresh waters save in
hurried and stealthy visits, and apparently gathering in their flimsy
huts only on special occasions.

In conformity with their rovingness the Seri are notable burden-
bearers. They habitually carry their entire stock of personal belong-
ings (arms, implements, utensils, and bedding), as well as their stock
of food and — weightiest burden of all — the water requisite for pro-
longed sustenance amid scorching deserts, in all their wanderings, the
water being borne chiefly by women, in oUas, either balanced on the
head singly or slung in pairs on rude yokes like those of Chinese coolies.
And they have never grasped the idea of imposing their burdens on
their bestial associates; their coyote-curs are not harnessed or even
led; when they surround and capture horses, burros, and kine they
make no use of ropes, never think of mounting even when pursued by
vaqueros, but immediately break the necks or club out the brains of
the beasts, perchance to tear the writhing body into quarters and flee
for their lives with the reeking flesh still quivering on their sturdy
heads and brawny shoulders — and scores of vaqueros agree in the
affirmation (wliolly incredible as it would be if supported by fewer wit-
nesses) that even when so burdened the Seri skim the sand wastes of
Desierto Encinas more rapidly than avenging horsemen can follow.

The hardly conceivable fleetuess of the Seri is conformable with their
habitual rovingness and their ability as burden-bearers; and this
faculty is established by cumulative evidence so voluminous and con-
sistent as to outweigh the presumption arising from the standards
attained among other peoples. A few minutes after they were photo-
graphed, the group of boys shown in plate xvi, with several others of
about the same size, provided themselves with a stock of their favorite
human-hair cords, "rounded up" a dozen mongrel coyote-dogs haunting
the rancheria at Costa Rica,, and herded the unwilling animals toward
a shrubbery-free space a quarter of a mile away, in order to rope them
in imitation of the work of the Mexican cowboys earlier in the morn-
ing. From time to time as they went a frightened cur sneaked or
broke through the cordon of boys, and made for distant shrub-tufts at
top speed; yet in every case a boy darted from the ring, headed off
the animal within one or two hundred yards, and lashed it back to its
place. On arriving at their miniature rodeo the boys widened their
ring, and at a signal scattered and frightened the dogs; then, when
the fleeing animals had a fair start, each selected his victim and fol-

150* THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

lowed it, yelling and swinging his light lasso, until, after much doubling
and dodging and many unsuccessful casts, he caught and dragged the
howling beast back to the open; and it was only after half a dozen
repetitions that enough dogs had escaped to spoil the sport. As the
boys lounged chattering back toward the rancheria their course lay
between two clumps of the usual desert shrubbery, so placed that when
the first was obliquely left and 40 or 50 feet distant from them, the
other was obliquely right and 100 feet away. At this point a bevy of
small birds (perhaps blackbirds— at any rate corresponding to black-
birds in size and flight) fluttered suddenly out of the nearer clump
toward the more distant one, when, too instantaneously for the
untrained eye to catch exchange of signal or beginning of movement,
the boys lunged forward in a common effort to seize the birds; and
though none were entirely successful, one exultantly displayed a tufb
of feathers clutched by his fingers as the bird darted into and through
the thorny harbor. When the distances were paced it was found that,
although the birds had the advantage of the start, the boys covered at
least 90 per cent of their distance in the same time ; while the spon-
taneity of the impulse demonstrated habitual chase of flying game
under fit conditions.

While obtaining the Seri vocabulary with Mash^m's aid, advantage
was taken of every opportunity to secure collateral information con-
cerning the actual use of the terms, and thereby of gaining insight into
the tribal habits. Through his naive explanations, usually repeated
and corroborated by the elderwoman of the Turtle clan ( Juana Maria)
and others of the tribe, it was learned that half-grown Seri boys are
fond of hunting hares (jack-rabbits) ; that they usually go out for this
purpose in threes or fours; that when a hare is started they scatter,
one following it slowly while the others setoff obliquely iu such manner
as to head it off and keep it in a zigzag or doubling course until it
tires; and that they then close in and take the animal in their hands,
frequently bringing it in alive to show that it was fairly caught — for it is
deemed discreditable, if not actually wrong, to take game animals with-
out giving them opportunity for escape or defense by exercise of their
natural powers. Similarly, Mash^m described the chase of the bura
and other deer as ordinarily conducted by five persons (of whom one or
two may be youths), who scatter at sight of the quarry, gradually sur-
round it, bewilder it by confronting it at all points, and finally close
in either to seize it with their hands, or perhaps to brain it with a stone
or short club ; the former being held the proper way and the latter a
partial failure. This hunting custom, described as a commonplace by
Mash^m, is established by the vaqueros who had frequently witnessed
it from a distance; and the same extra-tribal observers described still
more striking feats of individual Seri hunters: Don Manuel, son of
Senor Bncinas, and Don Tgnacio Lozania were endeavoring to train to
work a robust Seri (one of a band sojourning temporarily at Costa

3UREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL XVIII

^^^^^SERI ELDERWOMA

«'=°«'=1 FLEETNESS AND ENDURANCE 161*

Kica) noted for his prowess in hunting. One hot afternoon he begged
relief from his tasks, saying the spirit of catching a deer had hold on
him; and he was excused on condition that the deer be brought entire
to the rancho. Two hours later he was seen driving in a full-grown
buck; on approaching the rancho the terrified animal turned this way
and thut, describing long arcs in wild efforts to avoid the human habi-
tation; yet the hunter kept beyond it, heading it off at every turn and
gradually working it nearer, until, at a sudden turn, he was able to rush
on it; whereupon he caught it, threw it over his shoulders, and ran in to
the rancho with the animal still struggling and kicking off its over-
heated hoofs.

Seiior Encinas himself, with Don Andres Noriega and several other
attaches, vouch for the catching of a horse by a Seri hunter in still
more expeditious fashion: one of the horses belonging to the rancho
was exceptionally fat, and hence exceptionally tempting to the Seri
band (and at the same time worthless to the vaqueros); the chief
begged for it persistently until, wearied by his importunities, the
ranchero offered the horse to the band on condition that a single one
of them should catch it within a fixed distance (about 200 yards) from
the gateway of the corral — and the offer was promptly accepted. With
the view of making the test of fleetness fair, a vaquero was called in to
frighten the horse and start him running around the interior of the
corral, while a boy stood by to drop the bars at the proper moment, the
Indian standing ready outside the gateway; when the animal had
gained its best speed the bars were dropped and it bolted for the open
plains — but before the" 200-yard limit was reached the hunter had over-
taken it, leaped on its withers, caught it by the jaw in one hand and
the foretop in the other, and thereby thrown it in such manner as to
break its neck. Knowing of these and other instances, L. K. Thompson,
of Hermosillo, undertook arrangements for publicly exhibiting Seri
runners as deer catchers at different expositions during the nineties;
but his arrangements failed, chiefly because of the anticipated (and
probably underestimated) difficulty of taming the Seri sufftciently for
the purpose.

About 1893, Seiior Encinas and several attendants left Costa Eica
one morning for Hermosillo, leaving at the rancho, among others, a
Seri matron with a sick child nearly a year old; in the evening (as
they learned later) the child was worsCj and the matron took the trail
about dusk, in the hope of finding a cure in the white man's touch or
other medicine — and at dawn next morning she was at Molino del
Encinas, 17 leagues (nearly 45 miles) away, with her helpless child
and a peace offering in the form of a hare, which she had run down and
caught in the course of the journey. And the matrons, with children
astride their hips and water-filled ollas balanced on their heads, and
all their goods and chattels piled on their backs, habitually traverse
Desierto Encinas from the sea to Costa Eica (some 30 miles), or from
Costa Eica to the sea, in a night.

152* THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.ahn.17

Examples of Seri fleetness and endurance might be multiplied in-
definitely, and many of still more striliing character might be adduced;
but these instances, all attested by several witnesses, all corroborated
by independent facts, aud all consistent with the observations of the
1894 expedition, seem fairly to represent one aspect of the pedestrian
habit of the tribe.

A trait of the Seri hardly less conspicuous than their pedestrian
habit is habitual use of hands and teeth in lieu of the implements
characteristic of even the lowly culture found among most primitive
tribes. Perhaps the most nearly universal implement is the knife — at
first of shell, tooth, bone, or wood, later of stone, and last of metal —
and hardly a primitive tribe known .from direct observation or from
relics has been found independent of this most serviceable implement;
yet the Seri may be described with reasonable accuracy as a knifeless
folk. Awls and marlinspikes of bone and wood, shall cups, and pro-
tolithic miiUers or hammers are found in numbers in their hands, on
their raiicheria sites, and in their ancient shell accumulations, while
rudely chipped stone arrowp ints are sparsely scattered over their
range; yet not a single knife of stone or other wrought substance has
been found in their territory or in their possession, save for an occa-
sional metal knife obtained by theft or barter. And the hftbit of dis-
pensing with this primary implement is attested both by everyday
customs andbythetraditionsand chronicles concerning thetribe. Thus,
various observers (notably BTardy) have recorded the features and
uses of balsas, harpoons, ollas, etc, yet no records of cutting imple-
ments have been found; similarly the chronicles contain records of
barter between the Seri and the Sonorenses through which the savages
acquired aguardiente, manta, garments, sugar, grain, etc, yet no record
is known of the leading articles of exchange to practically all other
tribes of the continent, viz, cutlery; and in like manner the local tradi-
tions recount the constant desire of the Seri for liquor and tobacco, sac-
charine and other food substances, clothing or material for making it,
tin cups, lard-cans, and other metallic utensils, as well as nails for
harpoons and hoop-iron for arrowpoints, in addition to firearms and
ammunition ; yet the recounters are significantly silent on the subjecte
of knives.

Conformably, the 60 Seri gathered near Costa Eica in 1894 made it
their business to pick up or beg all sorts of industrial products and
materials, yet apparently did not possess so many as a dozen knives
in the entire band; and whilo protolithic implements, ollas, shell
cups, paint-stones, etc., were seen in constant use, none of the men,
Vomen, or children were observed to use knives for cutting meat or for
any other, customary purpose. Among the supplies laid on top of the
jacal shown in plate x, to keep them out of the way of the dogs, was a
hind leg of a horse, from femur to hoof (some three days dead and still

MCGBB] ABSENCE OF KNIFE-SENSE 153*

ripeuiiig); most of the larger muscles were already gnawed away,
leaving loose ends of fiber and strings of tendon clinging to the bone,
the condition being such that the remaining flesh might easily have
been cut and scraped away by means of a knife; yet whenever a war-
rior or woman or youth hungered he or she took down the heavy joint,
squatted or sat on the ground with back to one side of the doorway,
held the mass at the height of the mouth, and gnawed, sucked, and
swallowed, frequently tearing the tissue by twisting and backward
jerks of the head, and not only masticating, but swallowing the free
ends of tendons still attached to the bone. This process was varied
only by seizing with the hands and tearing off a strip of flesh or skin
already loosened by the teeth ; and it was continued until the bones
were practically clean, when they were wrenched apart by the stronger
men in order that the cartilaginous cushions and epiphyses might be
gnawed away. The only approach to cooking or carving was a parboil-
ing of the foot, after the leg was wrenched off at the hock, until the
hoof was sufQciently softened to be knocked olf with the protolithic
hu-pf^ shown in plate xliii, when half a dozen matrons and well-
grown maidens gathered about to gnaw the gelatinous tissue (already
softened by incipient decay as well as by the parboiling) investing the
coffin bone. The entire procedure in this as in many other cases pro-
claimed the absence of knife-sense. The Caucasian huntsman does not
have to think of his knife when game is to be bled or skinned or dis-
sected ; his habit- trained hand knowg where to find the implement, how
to seize it, and in most cases how to wield it advantageously; but the
Seri hand possesses no such cunning, and uses the knife only clumsily
and at second thought, if at all. The Seri huntsman, on the other
handj does not have to think of nails and teeth, for they are trained
and coordinated by hereditary habit to spontaneously act in unison and
withthe utmost possible or needful vigor ; while the Caucasian at least
has completely lost the claw-and-teeth instinct of offense and defense.
Conformably with their striking independence of knives, >he Seri are
conspicuously unskilful in all mechanical operations involving the use
of tools. Their most elaborate manufacture is the balsa, made from
reeds broken at the butts and with the leaves and tops removed by the
hands or by Are, bound together with hand-made cords; next in elabo-
rateness come the bow and arrow, normally made without cutting tools;
then follows their fictile ware, which is made wholly by hand, without
aid of the simple molds and paddles and other devices used by neigh-
boring tribes ; while their primitive fabrics were apparently of hand-
extracted fibers, twisted and woven wholly by hand, with the aid of
wood or bone perforators in sewing and possibly in weaving. Practi
cally the Seri possess but a single tool, and this is applied to a pecul-
iarly wide variety of purposes — it is the originally natural cobble used
for crushing bones and severing tendons, for grinding seeds and

1 Defined postea, p. 188.

154* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

rubbing face-paint, for bruising woody tissue to aid in breaking okatilla
poles for house-frames or mesquite roots for harpoons (both afterward
finished by firing), and on occasion for weapons ; and this many-func-
tioned tool is initially but a wave-worn pebble, is artificially shaped
only by the wear of use, and is incontinently discarded when sharp
edges are produced by use or fortuitous fracture. The hupf is sup-
plemented chiefly by the simple perforator of mandible or bone or fire-
hardened wood; and these two primitive implements, together with
moUuscan shells in natural condition, apparently serve as the primary
tools for all the mechanical operations of the tribe.

The dearth of tools and the absence not only of knives but of knife-
sense among the Seri illumine those traditions of Seri fighting made
tangible by the teeth- torn arm of Jesus Omada; for they explain the
alleged recourse of the Seri warriors to nature's weapons, used in the
centripetal fashion characteristic of nascent intelligence.

The Seri are distinguished by another trait hardly less striking than
the pedestrian habit, and even more conspicuous than the tooth-and-
nail habit with the correlative absence of tool-sense; the trait is not
tangible enough for ready definition or description in terms (of course
because so uiiusual as not to have bred words for its expression), but
is akin to — or, more properly, an exceeding intensification of — race-
pride in all its protean manifestations; it may be called race-sense.
Like other primitive folk, the Seri are self-centered (or egocentric) in
individual thought, i. e., they habitually think of the extraneous phe-
nomena of their little universe with reference to self, as in the labyrinth
ofconsanguinealrelationshipextendingand ramifying from the speaker;
furthermore, they typify primitive culture in their collective thinking,
which is tribe-centered (or ethnocentric), i. e., they view extraneous
things, especially those of animate nature, with reference to the tribe,
like all those lowly folk. who denote themselves by the most dignified
terms in their vocabulary and designate aliens by opprobrious epi-
thets; but the Seri outpass most, if not all, other tribes in dignify-
ing themselves and derogating contemporary aliens. . Concordantly
with this habitual sentiment, they glory in their strength and swift-
ness, and are inordinately proud of their fine figures and excessively
vain of their luxuriant locks — indeed, they seem to exalt their own
bodies and their own kind well toward, if not beyond, the verge of
inchoate deification. The obverse of the same sentiment apj)ears in
the hereditary hate and horror of aliens attested by their history, by
their persistent blood-thirst, and by the rigorous marriage regulations
adapted to the maintenance of tribal purity; for just as their highest
virtue is the shedding of alien blood, so is their blackest crime the
transmission of their own blood into alien channels. The potency of
the sentiment is established by the unparalleled isolation of the tribe
after centuries of contact with Caucasians, by their irreducible love of
native soil, by their implacable animosity toward invaders, and by

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XIX

TYPICAL SERI WARRIOR

THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON

MOOEE] INTOLERANCE OP ALIENS 155*

their rigorously maintained purity of blood ; it is manifested in their
commonplace conduct by a singular combination of hauteur and ser-
vility, forbidding association with aliens on terms of equality. The
entire group at Oosta Rica in 1894 were on good behavior, partly, no
doubt, for profit, partly because they were at peace bought by blood-
shed; yet they kept an impassable gulf between themselves and the
Caucasians, aud a still wider chasm against the Papago and Yaqui.
They came to the tanque, usually in groups, rarely alone, always alert;
especially when alone or in twos or threes, they moved slowly and
stealthily in their peculiar collected and up-stepping gait, often stop-
ping, always glaucing furtively with roving eyes, and bearing a curi-
ous air of self-repression — as of the camp-prowling coyote who seems to
hold down his instinctively bristling mane by voluntary eflbrt. And
the visitor to their rancheria sent a wave of influence before as his
approach was noted; laughter ceased, languor disappeared, and a
forced, yet sullen, amiability took their place, tliough the children and
females edged away ; if he appeared unexpectedly or came too close,
the children and younger adults simply flitted like young partridges,
while the elders stiffened rigidly, with bristling brows and everting
lips and purpling eyes, perhaps accompanied by harsh gutturization —
indeed • the curiously canine snarl and growl, often evoked by the
stranger unintentionally, betrayed the bitterness of Seri antipathy
toward even the most tolerable aliens. Every human is panoplied in a
personality, perhaps intangible but none the less real, which repels
undue approach and fixes limits to familiarity ou the part of strangers,
friends, kinsmen, and mates, according to their respective degrees of
mutually elective affinity; but the Seri are so close to eacli other and
so far from all others that they are collectively panoplied against extra-
tribal personalties even as are antipathetic animals, against each other
— and the Seri can no more control the involuntary snarl and growl at
the approach of the alien than can the hunting-dog at sight or smell of
the timber- wolf.

While the highly developed traits represented by pedestrian habit
and hand-and-tooth habit and segregative habit expressing race-sense
are conspicuous during exercise, each carries an equally well-marked
obverse. Thus, while the Seri are known as runners par excellonce in
a region of runners, and were named by aboriginal neighbors from their
spryness of movement, they have been no less notorious among the Cau-
casian settlers of two generations for unparalleled laziness — for a lethar-
gic sloth beyond that of sluggish ox and somnolent swine, which was
an irritating marvel to the patient padres of the eighteenth century,
and is today a byword in the even-tempered Landof Manana; concord-
antly the sinewy hands and muscular jaws are noticeably inert during
the intervals between intense fnnctionings, are practically free from the
spontaneous or nervous movements of habitually busy persons, and
contribute by their immobility to the air of indolence or languor which

156* THK SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

SO impressed padres and rancberos; concordantly also, tlie manifesta-
tions of race hate, doubtless culminating among warriors on the war-
path, are strongly contrasted with the abject docility of the Seri groups
when at peace and in camp near Oosta Rica and other ranchos — a docil-
ity far exceeding that of the Papago, whose personal dignity is an ever-
present possession, or that of Yaqai, whose strong spirit so often breaks
the curb of Caucasian control. So the observer of the Seri is impressed
by the intensity of functioning along lines defined by their character-
istic traits, and equally by the capriciousness of the functioning and the
remarkably wide range between activity and inactivity which render
them aggregations of extremes — the Seri are at once the swiftest and
the laziest, the strongest and the' most inert, the most warlike and the
most docile of tribesmen; and their transitions from rdle to role are singu-
larly cajjricious and sudden . At the same time the observer is impressed
by the relatively long intervals between the periods of activity; true,
the intense activity may cover hours, as in the chaste of a deer, or days,
as in a distant predatory raid, or perhaps even weeks, when the tribe
is on the warpath; yet all the known facts indicate that far the greater
portion of the time of warriors, women, and children is spent in idle
lounging about rancherias and camps, in lolling and slumbering in the
sun by day and in huddling under the scanty shelter of jacales or
shrubbery by night — i. e., when their activity is measured by hours,
their intervals of repose must be measured by days.

Summarizing those somatic traits connected with habitual function-
ing, the Seri may be considered as characterized by (1) distinctive
pedestrian habit, (2) conspicuous hand-and-tooth habit correlated with
defective too^-seuse, and ^3) pronounced segregative habit correlated
with a highly specialized race-sense; yet they are characterized no less
by extreme alternations from the most intense functioning to complete
quiescence — the periods of intensity being relatively short, and the
intervals of quiescence notably long.

On reviewing the more conspicuous somatic structures and functions
jointly, they are found to throw some light on their own development,
and hence on the natural history of the Seri tribe.

Certain characteristics of the tribe strongly suggest lowly condition,
i. e., a condition approaching that of lower animals, especially of car-
nivorous type; among these are the specific color, the centripetally
developed body, the tardy adolescence, the defective tool-sense, the
distinctive food habits (especially the consumption of raw offal and
carrion), the independence of fixed habitations, and the extreme alterna-
tions between the rage of chase and war and the quiescence of sluggish
repose. But these primitive characteristics are opposed or qualified
by such features as the noble stature, the capacious and ' shapely
brain-case, the well-developed hands, and the considerable intelligence
revealed in native shrewdness as well as in organization and belief.
Collectively the characteristics are in some measure incongruous; yet

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XX

THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON

TYPICAL SERI MATRON

MOGEE] TYPES OF CHEIEIZATION 157*

all are at least fairly compatible with the inference that the tribe is
exceptioually (if not incomparably) low in the scale of general human
development, yet at the same time highly specialized along certain lines ;
and the inference in turn is corroborated by the coincidence between
the special lines of development and the peculiar conditions of environ-
ment characterizing the habitat of the tribe.

A striking correspondence between Seri physique and Seri habitat is
revealed in the pedal development, with the attendant development of
muscle and bone, lung capacity, and heart power, together with other
faculties involved in the pedestrian habit. Seriland is a hard and
inhospitable home; sea-food is indeed abundant and easily taken, but
water is terribly — often fatally — scarce, and obtainable only by distant
journeying from the places of easy food supply; moreover, the monot-
ony of the diet is alleviable only by extensive wandering for the collec-
tion of vegetal products or severe chase after land animals ; while the
warlike spirit, apparently inherited from a still less humane ancestry
and fostered by the geographic isolation, combines to keep the tribe
afoot, avoiding waters, conducting raids, and moving constantly from
place to place in the endless search for safety. There is a widespread
Sonoran tradition that the Seri systematically exterminate weaklings
and oldsters; and it is beyond doubt that the tradition has a partial
foundation in the elimination of the weak and helpless through the
literal race for life in which the bands participate on occasion. A par-
allel eliminative process is common among many American aborigines;
the wandering bands frequently undergo hard marches under the lead-
ership of athletic warriors with whom all are expected to keep pace,
and this leads both to desertion of the aged and feeble and to increased
strength and endurance on the part of the strong and enduring; yet it
would appear that this merciless mechanism for improving the fit and
eliminating the unfit attains unusual, if not unequaled, perfection among
the Seri. 'Sow pedal development is one of the special processes of
peripheral (or centrifugal) functioning and growth involved in the gen-
eral process of cheirisiation, which, coordinately with cephalization,
defines human progress;' and this development il process explains the
specialization of the Seri along one or more lines, and connects the
special development directly with environing conditions.

A notable correspondence between structure and function, of such
sort as to reflect the habit and habitat, appears in the conspicuous
manual development of the Seri. Enjoying a climate too mild to make
houses necessary, finding animal food too plentiful to necessitate elabo-
rate contrivances for the chase or milling or other devices for reducing
vegetal food, provided by nature with material (in the form of carrizal)
for an ideally suitable water craft, barred by geographic boundaries from
neighboring tribes, and having neither material for nor interest in com-
merce, the denizens of Seriland were never forced into the way of
mechanical development; yet their simple industries, involving as they

' The Trend of Human Progress, American Anthropologist, new series, vol. 1, 1899, p. 401.

158* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.akn.17

do swift stroke and strong grasp and dexterous digitation, are luainly
sucli as urge manual development more strenuously than would be
normal among tribesmen connected with their environment through
the medium of tools. The demand for manual strength and skill is
intensified among the Seri by both natural and domestic conditions;
the ever-ready (and almost the sole) material suitable for simple
adjuncts to the hand abounds in the form of wave- worn cobbles: these
cobbles are easily usable in such wise as to serve all ordinary purposes,
and their abundance discourages the production of more highly differ-
entiated tools; while their habitual use promotes manual strength and
deftness, coupled with that digital freedom (required, for example, in
grasping a ball) which most clearly distinguishes the human hand from
the subhuman paw. Conjoined with these natural conditions are
demotic demands tending to cultivate manual fitness and eliminate the
manually unfit; for, in addition to the direct industrial premium on dex-
terity, through which the dexterous survive while the clumsy starve, there
is a special premium growing out of the marriage custom, through which
only the manually efflcient (and at the same time morally acceptable)
areputin the way of leaving lines of descendants.' Naturally, in view
of the combination of factors, all traceable directly or indirectly to
environmental conditions, the Seri afford a peculiarly striking example
of cheirization extended to an entire tribe (if not to a genetic stock of
people) — indeed the remarkably developed Seri hands and feet first
suggested the importance of this process of human development and
led to its formal characterization.

Accordingly, the robust-bodied and slender-limbed yet big-fisted and
big-footed Seri seem to be adjusted, so far as several of their more
striking somatic characters are concerned, to distinctive habits them-
selves reflecting a distinctive habitat; and the coincidences appear to
reveal and establish the law of interaction between the human organism
and its environment — an interaction effected through the habits and
hence through the normal functioning of the individual organisms as
constrained through their collective relations. And recognition of the
law of interaction opens the way to consideration of other correspond-
ences between structures and functions and environing conditions.

Conspicuous among the more strictly functional traits of the Seri is
the intensity of action characteristic especially of the warriors, though
in less degree of the entire tribe — an intensity made all the more strik-
ing by contrast with the extreme inertness between stresses. Mani-
festly the capacity for concentrated effort is in harmony with the
tribal habits, themselves reflecting habitat. The resource of prime
importance in Serilaud — that which directly and constantly conditions
the very existence of human inhabitants — is potable water. This prime
source of life is too heavy to be transported and too unstable to be
stored with the facilities of primitive culture, yet it is always within
reach of an organism strong enough to journey ten or twenty or fifty

1 The marital customs of the tribe are described postea, pp. 279-287.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXI

THE MELIOTVPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON

SERI RUNNER

MOGEE] ALTERNATION OF STATES 169*

miles in search of it, and acute enough to follosv trails and indications.
Naturally the meager water-supply serves as a mechanism ff )r sorting out
and preserving the strong and the acute, and for eliminating the weakly
and the dull; and hence the tribe have developed a faculty, or perhaps
a potentiality, of distinctive sort — the potentiality of providing against
thirst-death by a reserve power in the organism itself rather than in
the form of mechanical devices such as characterize higher culture.
Quite similar are the relations to the resource of second importance,
i. e., ordinary food. Habituated to dispensing with storage and trans-
portation of their primary resource, and accustomed to finding food
whenever forced to sufficiently active effort to obtain it, the Seri have
never grasped that first principle of thrift expressed in the accumula-
tion of food supplies; and accordingly they intuitively rely on success-
ful fishing or chase or search of vegetal edibles for sustenance, and
habitually delay effort until they are stirred into activity by the pangs
of hunger. Naturally this improvidence serves as another mechanism
for perpetuating families of stored vitality, and especially those able
to prevail over swift or strong or cunning quarry by sustained vigor
and alertness after prolonged deprivation; and the effect of this mech-
anism, too, is to develop a reserve power in the organism itself, in lieu
of the material reserve made through thrift in higher culture. Similar
in their consequences are the relations of the individual organisms to
the third industry of Seriland, i. e., navigation of the gale-swept and
tide-troubled waters. Even the buoyant balsa can not weather the
williwaws or ride the tiderips of El Infiernillo without exercise of the
utmost strength and skill on the part of the navigators ; while the often
persistent storms may delay for days embarkation on voyages in quest
of fresh water or food. Naturally, the frequent delays and not infre-
quent perils of such navigation constitute a mechanism for selecting
navigators possessed of reserve powers adequate to meet desperate
emergencies with vigor and judgment even after "enervating waits for
wind and tide, while those not so well endowed are either brought up
to standard in their hard training-school or expelled from their class by
drowning or dashing on the rocks, as may happen; so that the effect of
this mechanism also is to preserve individuals and perpetuate genera-
tions characterized by reserve power, and hence to develop latent
potentiality in the tribe. Now, the normal product of these and other
natural mechanisms immediately retiecting environmental conditions
is capacity for spurts, or for intense functioning under severe stress,
despite accentuation of the stress by thirst or hunger or exhaustion, or by
all combined — i. e., the effect of habitat and habit is to produce precisely
such a somatic regimen as that so conspicuously displayed by the Seri
folk. So the intensified activity with long intervals of inertness, simu-
lating the habits of carnivorous and some other lower animals, and hence
suggesting primitive condition, would appear to be largely a phyloge-
netically acquired character expressing specific adjustment to environ-
ment.

160* THE SEBI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

To the actual observer of the Seri in his prime there is an indefinable
but none the less impressive harmony between the intense regimen and
the trenchant structural development characteristic of the tribe — a
harmony like unto that felt by naturalist and artist alike in viewing
at once the clean-cut form and vigorously easy mobility of tiger or
thoroughbred horse; and simple inspection of the lithe limbs and body-
muscles stirs into living realization a half-felt inference from many
facts — the obvious and indubitable inference that they are stress-
shaped structares. Accordingly, the concentrated and robust bodies,
the shapely jaws, the well-chiseled arms, and the statuesque legs of the
Seri, no less than their powerful hands and bulky feet, direct special
attention to the axiom that somatic structures are the product of exer-
cise, and indicate with convincing clearness that the structures are
trenchantly developed because of the supreme intensity of the creative
exercise. It may be impracticable to outline in terms of metabolism
the precise processes of waste and repair in organs and organisms, or
to define the relative periods of action and assimilation (or of catabolism
and anabolism) best adapted to the development of motile tissue; yet
the external facts of all bodily growth demonstrate the eflflciency of
alternating effort and repose, while the characteristics of highly devel-
oped animal bodies (including those of the Seri) demonstrate that the
most beneficial exercise is that of relatively brief but intense stresses
alternating with relatively long intervals of sluggish movement or com-
plete repose. Moreover, the facile metabolism involved in the widely
alternating regimen implies exceptional somatic plasticity of the sort
normally accompanying youth and attending tissue growth; and this
persistent bodily plasticity is in harmony with the peculiarly dilatory
maturation characteristic of the Seri tribe. So the animal-like bodies of
the Seri, no less than their animal-like movements, which at first sight
suggest primitive condition, may safely be held in large measure to
reiieet specific habits bf life, themselves reflecting a distinctive habitat.

Still more suggestive to the observer than the well-molded structures
and the intense functioning with which they are conjoined are those
elusive yet persistent characteristics of the Seri comprised in theirdis-
tinctive race sense — characteristics ranging from overweening intra-
tribal pride to overpowering extratribal hatred. Even at first blush
it would seem obvious that the tribal isolation, itself the reflection of
environment, would necessarily tend toward a segregative habit with
concomitant hostility toward aliens; yet the race-sense of the Seri so
far transcends that of other segregated tribes as to suggest the exist-
ence of a specific cause. So, too, it would seem obvious that the race
feeling gathers about a corporeal nucleus in the form of the race-type
exemplified in the heroic stature, the shapely face, the mighty chest,
the luxuriant hair, the well- modeled muscles, the powerful feet and
hands, the "collected" carriage, and the stored vitality, which (as
already indicated) synthesize the environmental interactions of gener-
ations; yet the actual student can not avoid the impression that the

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXII

THE HELIOTVPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON

SERI MATRON

MOGEE] THE SERI HACE-SENSE 161*

race-sense dominates the race type — that the Seri are farther away
from neighboring tribes in feeling than in features, in function than in
structure, in mind than in body. Now, in seeking the sources of this
distinctive (not to say specific) race-sense, several suggestions arise.
Naturally the first suggestion is that of simple sexual selection, the
(assumptive) analogue of an important factor in biotic evolution; but
the suggestion is at once apparently negatived by the fact that all the
mature men and women are married and have families of children pro-
portionate to their ages. True, undesirable flanc6s may be expelled
from the tribe, or even executed (as intimated by neighboring Sono-
renses); yet there is little evidence that either method of selection is
employed among the Seri more largely than among other peoples; and,
as all recent researches indicate, the higher peoples at least have risen
above the plane of sexual selection per se as an effective factor in
somatic development. A second suggestion arises in the axiom (vivi-
fied by realization of the connection between Seri movements and Seri
structures) that perfected organs are the product of stressful function-
ing — indeed, the suggestion is but the extension of the axiom from the
individual to the stirp and the group. In developing the suggestion it
is convenient to divide the career of the stirp into periods defined by
the successive wax and wane of vitality in its most significant mani-
festations; and this may be done in terms of successive individual life-
ti mes in their three successive aspects of (1) youth, (2) maturity, and (3)
senility, in which the dominant constructive functions are respectively
(I) somatic growth, (2) collective growth (comprising both procreation
and the accumulation of artificial possessions), and (3) dissipation of
somatic vitality and distribution of extrasomatic accumulations (gen-
erational as well as material and intellectual). Now, it is a common-
place in every stage of culture that vital capacity, and also the inherent
sense of kind manifested in pairing, culminate in the medial portion, or
prime, of individual life; and if this universal recognition is valid, it
is just to hold that. the career of the stirp is defined by the successive
vital climaxes expressing the primes of the series of generations per-
taining to the stirp. It follows that each generation must represent,
not the average qualities of the entire generation past, but the quali-
ties of the most virile and maliebrile fraction of that generation;
whence it follows in turn that in general the generations must develop
along the lines most prominent in the lives of each people in their
prime. The process may be formulated as the law of periodic conjuga-
tion, under which successive generations are initiated, not at random,
but at periods of culminant effectiveness in shaping the course of the
stirp. The immediate application of this law to the Seri tribe is mani-
fest, for it explains (the initial condition of isolation and the conse-
quent incipient segregative habit being given) how and why the tribal
standards have grown more definite from generation to generation,
and have interacted cumulatively with the distinctive environment in
such manner as continually to widen the chasm between the desert-
17 KTH 11

162* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.akn.IT

bound tribe and their alien neighbors. Yet the general application of
the law leads only to a more specific application ; for, just as the career
of the stirp is made up of a succession of vital maxima and minima, so
the lifetime of the individual, even iu the median stage, is made up of
a series of vital climaxes separated by relatively inert intervals; and,
as recognized by every naturalist and romaneist, every philosoiilier
and poet, in every stage of culture, it is during the periods of conative
domination by the master passion that the career of the individual is
shaped and that the stirpsentimeut (or susceptibility to kind) culmi-
nates in intensity. It follows that the progeny of successive genera-
tions represent not merely the optimum median stage of life in which
vitality and virility and muliebrity are at flood, but the very climaxes
of this stage in which manhood and womanhood attain their ideals,
and in which the ideals react on the physical system with^unequaled
intensity; it follows in turn that each generation must (iu so far as
intellectual tension can control long series of metabolic interactions
after the manner in which short series are controlled by direct volitional
exercise) incarnate the ideals of the preceding generation ; whence it
follows still further that in general isolated race types tend constantly
and cumulatively to increase in definiteness — at least until the somatic
factors are counterbalanced by demotic relationships arising with con-
siderable increase in population. It is true that the extent to which
the incarnation of ideals is effective or even possible has not been
measured; it is also true that the naturalists of the higher culture-
stages commonly neglect the process; yet the occasional recognition of
its positive aspect, as in Goethe's "elective affinities "and in Jacob's
getting of " ringstraked, speckled, and spotted" stock (Genesis xxx,-
37-41 ), and the practically universal recognition — more especially
among primitive peoples — of its negative aspect in adverse prenatal
influences, clearly indicates its importance; the fact that the ancient
Greeks at onceidealized in unparalleled degree, and produced unexcelled
perfection in, the human form being of no small significance. Even if the
measure of the incarnation of ideals be reduced to the lowest minimum
consistent with common knowledge, it remains true that the progeny
of successive generations are not the offVpring of average parents, but
of pairs at the perfection and conjugal culmination of their virile and
muliebrile excellencies; so that the gen^prations must run in courses of
cumulatively increasing racial (or human) perfection, under a general
law of conjugal conation.

In extending the general law of conjugal conation to the Seri, it
is found peculiarly applicable, in view of their distinctive marriage
custom, the effect of which is to intensify conjugal sentiments, with the
attendant magnification, and potential if not actual incarnation, of
ideals.^ Accordingly there would appear to be a harmony between

' The law- of conjugal conation was indeed suggested by observations on the peculiar marriage cus-
tom and peculiarly developed race-sense of the Seri tribe, and it has already been applied in certain
of its aspects as an explanation of the initial humanization of mankind (The Trend of Human Prog-
ress, American Anthropologist, new series, vol, 1, 1809, pp. 415-118).

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXIII

THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON

YOUTHFUL SERI WARRIOR

""•^==^1 EFFECTS OF CONJUGAL CONATION 163*

Seri race-sense and Seri race-type no less delicate than that between
the stressful action and the stress-shaped structures of the tribe,
and while the inception of both type and feeling may be ascribed to
the isolated environment, it seems manifest that both have interacted
constructively and in cumulative fashion through a significant process
exemplified more clearly by this tribe than by others thus far studied.
At the same time, analysis of the harmony between type and senti-
ment indicates that the lowly Seri are actually, albeit unconsciously,
carrying out a meaningful experiment in stirpiculture — an experiment
whose methods and results are equally valuable to students. The Seri
gymnastic and the Seri stirpiculture are in close accord, in that both
are conditioned by initially dilatory yet ultimately intense action; the
results are equally accordant in that the one conduces toward individ-
ual vigor and the other toward a vigorous and distinctive stirp; while
the excellence of the methods (viewed from the somatic standpoint) is
attested by the magnificence of the product. Now, comparison of the
stirpicultured Seri with contemporary tribes shows that the desert-
bound folk have attained unequaled somatic development, and sug-
gests that the intuitive stirpicultural processes have been rendered
peculiarly eflfectivo through the persistence of that tribal isolation in
which the processes apparently took rise; so the race-sense of the
Seri may be regarded as the product of long-continued stirpicultural
processes, initially shaped by environment, yet developed to unusual
degree by somatico-social habits, kept £(|live largely through continuous
environmental interaction.

Summarily, the Seri are characterized by noble physique, by pecu-
liarly swift and lightsome movements, by great endurance coupled with
capacity for vigorous action, by animal like symmetry and slowness of
maturation, and by various minor attributes combining with the major
features to form a distinctive race-type; and they are still more con-
spicuously characterized by an acute race-sense which holds them apart
from all aliens. At first sight, several of their somatic attributes seem
incomparably primitive, yet analysis of the attributes in the light of
certain laws which they exemplify better than other peoples thus far
studied indicates "not so much a lack of development as an excess of
growth along purely somatic lines, with a correlative defect of develop-
ment along demotic lines; and when the lines of growth are traced to
the sources and conditions, it becomes fairly clear that the aberrant
development of the tribe is merely the reflection of a distinctive environ-
ment operating (evidently) throughout a long period. In brief, the
somatic interest of the Seri seems to center in the remarkable adjust-
ment of the tribe to a peculiar environment — an adjustment of such
delicacy as to imply interaction throughout many generations.

DEMOTIC CHARACTERS

The Seri, like all other peoples, are characterized by various collect-
ive attributes which vastly transcend in interest and importance the
somatic attributes exhibited by the individuals. These superorganic
attributes are essentially activital— i. e., they represent what the peo-
ple do rather than what they merely are; and in both collective and
activital aspects they serve to distinguish the human realm from the
organic realm, and to afford a basis for the classification of mankind —
i. e., they combine to form demotic characters.

The demotic characters of the Seri, like those of other peoples, may
be classed as (1) esthetic, (2) industrial, (3) institutional, (4) linguistic,
and (5) sophic; and in this order the essentially human attributes of
the tribe (except the last named) may be described. It is a matter of
deep regret that the data concerning the demotic characters of the tribe
are too meager to afford more than a mere outline of their activities, and
that their suggestive mythology must be passed over for the present.

Symbolism and Decoration

face-painting

One of the most conspicuous customs of the Seri is that of painting
the face in designs by means of mineral pigments. Of the 55 mem-
bers of the tribe shown in the group forming plate xiii, 28 (in the
original photograph; a somewhat less number in the reproduction)
exhibit face-painting more or less clearly, and this proportion may be
regarded as typical; i. e., about half of the tribe are painted.

On noting the individual distribution of face-painting, it is found to
be practically confined to the females, though male infants are some-
times marked with the devices pertaining to their mothers, as adult
warriors are said to be on special occasions; and so far as observed all
the females, from aged matrons to babes in arms, are painted, though
sometimes the designs are too nearly obliterated by wear to be trace-
able. About 35 of the individuals shown in the group (plate xiii) are
females; of these, fully four-fifths showed designs or definite traces of
the paint, while the remaining fifth bore traces too faint to be caught
by the camera; but none of the men or larger boys were painted. In
the smaller group shown in plate xiv all of the females display paint,
as does the small boy in the center also, while the man (husband of the
middle-aged matron) reveals no trace of the symbol. The two pictures
typify the prevalence and the distribution by sex of the painting.
164*

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL XXIV

"°^^] DESIGNS AND VARIATIONS 165*

The painted designs vary among different individuals, but are fairly
persistent for each. The prevailing design at Uosta Rica in 1893 was
that of the aged matron known as Juana Maria (plate xviii), with
variations in detail such as that exhibited by her unmarried daughter
Candelaria (the Seri belle shown in plate xxiv) ; next in frequency
were the designs, in white and red, exhibited by the matrons portrayed
in plates xx and xxii. Other designs observed are indicated in plate
XXVI. The variations in individual designs are apparently due either
to varying care in the application of the paint or to the degree of oblit-
eration by wear— e. g., the withered Juana Maria sometimes put on her
design askew and was negligent of details, while the blooming Can-
delaria greatly elaborated the details of the pattern and carefully per-
fected the symmetry of the whole when preparing for her full-dress
sitting before the camera (plate xxiv), so that her design was then
gorgeous by contrast with the nearly obliterated blur of a half-hour
before. The designs are renewed every few days, especially for cere-
monious occasions, and hence are practically permanent.

When grouped in relation to their wearers, the designs are found to
exhibit family connection. Thus, Juana Maria's design is repeated,
with greater elaboration of detail and with a pair of supplementary
marks, in that of her daughter Candelaria; the winged symbol of the
Serj matron portrayed in plate xx is repeated with minor variations in
that of her daughter, the Seri maiden pictured in plate xxv; while the
symbols of the mother and infant daughter depicted in plate xv are
essentially alike. It is noticeable, too, that in the nearly spontaneous
arrangement of individuals in the group shown in plate xiii there is a
tendency toward subgrouping by symbols; and it was constantly
observed that the family groups gathered about particular jacales
(such as that shown in plate xiv) displayed corresponding designs,
though there were frequent visitors from neighboring jacales bearing
other designs. Briefly, all the observed facts, as well as the supple-
mentary information gained by inquiry, indicate that the designs are
hereditary in the female line, but are susceptible of slight modification
both in elaborateness of detail and in the addition of minor supple-
mentary features.

The principal apparatus and materials used in the face-painting are
illustrated in plate xxvii. The chief pigments are ocher, gypsum, and
the rare mineral dumortierite; the ocher yields various shades of red,
ranging from pink to brown ; the gypsum affords the white used in most
of the designs; while the dumortierite is the source of the slightly vary-
ing tints of blue. So far as was observed, the pigments are hot blended
by mixing, though there is some blending due to overlapping in appli-
cation. The ocher is commonly extracted and transported as lumps of
ocherous clay or ocherous gypsum (plate xxvii, figures 1 and 5), though
it is sometimes reduced to powder and transported in bits of skin or
rag, or in cylinders of cane (plate xxvii, figures 3 and 4); and it is

Igg* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

prepared by trituration with a ])ebble or rubbing with the fingers,
usually in a shell cup. Sometimes the shell used for the purpose is the
valve of a Gardium, which serves indiscriminately as cup, spoon, skin-
scraper, etc; but preference is apparently given to thick and strong
shells, such as the wave- worn valve of Ohama (?), shown in plate
XXVII, figure 7, which are consecrated to the use and eventually buried
with the user, together with a supply of the paint (like that illustrated
in the cane cylinder— figure 4— which was a mortuary saciiflce). The
gypsum is usually carried in natural slabs or other fragments, perhaps
rounded by wear (plate xxvii, figures 6 and 8) ; it is prepared by wet-
ting and rubbing two pieces together, the larger being reduced to
metate shape by the operation. The dumortierite was observed only
in the form of a pencil made by pulverizing the substance and mixing
with sufiacient clay to give consistency. The several pigments are
applied'wet by means of human-hair brushes kept for the purpose, the
process occupying from half an hour to three or four hours for the
more elaborate designs. So far as observed at Costa Eica in 1894, the
paints were mixed in water only; but since painting outfits found on
Tiburon island in 1895 were smeared with grease, it is probable that
either water or fats may serve for menstrua, at the convenience of the
artists. Commonly the process of painting is measurably cooperative.
The matron usually depicts her device on the faces of her daughters
up to the age of 12 or 15 years, when they learn to make the applica-
tions themselves; and frequently two or more women (usually those
with similar devices) work together in preparing and applying the pig-
ments, each laying the paint on her own face and apparently guiding
her hand partly by the sense of feeling and partly by suggestions
from her coworkers; but Candelaria and some other of the younger
women at Costa Kica frequently worked alone, aided by a mirror
in the form of a shallow bowl of water set in the shadow while the
brilliant desert glare fell full on the face.

The mines yielding the pigments were not located. The geologic con-
ditions are such that the ochers are undoubtedly abundant; but it is
probable that the gypsum is uncommon and confined to a remote local-
ity or two, and that the dumortierite is rare and scanty here as else.
where. The care with which the paints are preserved, prepared, and
applied, the fact that they are indispei^sable feminine appurtenances
even on the longest journeys, and their sacred rdle in the mortuary
customs, all combine to indicate that they are among the most highly
prized possessions of the people and by far the most precious of their
minerals.

The sematic functions of the designs are esoteric, yet an inkling of
their meaning was obtained through Mash6m, the interpreter at Costa
Eica in 1894; from his expressions it appears that the designs are
sacred insignia of toteinic cliaracter, serving to denote the clans of
which the tribe is composed. But three clans were identified, and

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXV

SERI MAIDEN

"OGEE] FUNCTIONS OP THE DESIGNS 167*

these only with some uucertainty, viz, the Turtle clan,' denoted by the
symbols of Juana Maria (plate xviii) and Candelaria (plate xxiv and
the upper left figure in plate xxvi); the Pelican clan, denoted by the
designs of two typical matrons (plates xx and xxii) and a typical
maiden (plate xxv), and probably also by those of the medio-lateral
figures in plate xxvi; and (still less certainly) the Eattlesnake clan,
denoted by the symbol of the lower left figure in this plate. The
special sematic values of the colors also are esoteric, and were not
ascertained; even in the case of the simple pelican design, the differ-
ence in meaning between the solid red pattern of one group and the
similar pattern of white in another group was successfully concealed.
So, too, the significance of the various subordinate or supplementary
devices — the distinct border-line shown in plate xx, the lower cheek
devices in plate xxiv, the separate chin mark in plate xxv, the fetish-
like symbols on the lower cheeks in the lower left figure of plate xxvi,
etc — eluded inquiry ; while some of the minor features of both form and
color were sufliciently variable in the devices borne by different faces
of the same family, and even in successive paintings of the same face,
to suggest some individual freedom in carrying out the detail of the
generally uniform designs.

The telic functions, or ultimate purposes, of the face-painting are,
also esoteric, though not beyond the reach of inference from the sematic
functions, coupled with general facts of zoic and primitive human cus-
toms. Even at first sight the painted devices bring to mind the
directive markings of lower animals defined by Professor Todd ^ and
interpreted by Ernest Seton-Thompson ; ' and in view of the implacably
militant habit of the Seri it would seem evident that the artificial
devices are, at least in their primary aspect, analogous to the natural
markings. On analyzing the directive markings of animals, it is conve-
nient to divide them into two classes, distinguished by special function,
usual placement, and general relation to animal economy: the first
class serve primarily to guide flight in such manner as to permit ready
reassembling of the flock; they are usually posterior, as in rabbit,
white- tail deer, antelope, and various birds; and they primarily signify
inimical relations to alien organisms, with functional exercise under
stress of fear. The second class of markings serve primarily for
mutual identification of approaching individuals; as comports with
this function, they are usually facial, or at least anterior; and their
functional exercise is normally connected with peaceful association —
though the strongly emphasized facial symbols of the males doubtless

* This tutelary may be the shark ; it was desoribed as a -water monster iDstrumental in the creation
and good for food, but the identilication is not beyond doubt. Cf. p. 278.

» American Naturalisl, vol. xxii, 1888, pp. 201-207.

'Wild Animals I Have Known, 1898, p. 119; Century Magazine, vol. lix, 1900, pp. 656-660. In his lec-
tures, Mr Seton-Thompson extends his interpretations to anterior as well as to posterior markings,
especially the conspicuous and persistent facial features of deer, antelope, mongrel (or ancestral) dog,
etc. Such facial markings seem especially characteristic of gregarious animals; and they are
peculiarly significant as social symbols rather than as mere beacous for guidance in flight.

Igg* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ans.17

blazon forth the alternative meanings of preference for peace or readi-
ness for strife, like the calumet tomahawk of the Sioux warrior (as
interpreted by Gushing). So the directive markings of the first class
are substantially beacons of danger and fear, while those of the second
are just as essentially standards of safety and confidence; and they
may properly be designated as heacon-marldngs and standard-marMngs,
respectively.' On seriating the two classes in terms of development,
it is at once found that the beacon-markings are in large measure con-
nected with excursive movement and are centrifugal in effect, while the
standard-markings are connected mainly with incursive movement and
are centripetal in efi"ect; at the same time the latter express not only
the higher intelligence, but also the greater degree of that conjustment
which forms the basis of collective organization; so that the latter
unquestionably represents the higher developmental stage. JSow, the
primary functions of these directive markings of the higher grade—
signalization (or attentiouizatioii) and identification— correspond pre-
cisely with paramount needs of the alien-hating and clan-loving Seri;
so that careful analysis would seem fully to justify the casual impres-
sion of functional similitude between the Seri face-painting and the
directive markings of social animals.

While the first survey establishes a certain analogy between the
primitive face-painting and the standard-markings of animals, an im-
portant disparity is noted when the survey is extended to individuals;
for among beasts and birds the standards are usually the more con-
spicuously displayed by the males, while the paint devices of the Seri
are confined to the females. A suggestion pointing toward explana-
tion of this disparity is readily found in the seriation.of developmental
stages marked by (1) the fear-born beacon-markings, (2) the confidence-
speaking standard-markings, and (3) the painted symbols; for the arti-
ficial devices coincide with an immeasurably advanced mental develop-
ment, with concomitant advance in safety and peace on the one hand
and in artificializing weapons on the other hand. This suggestion
alone fails to explain the disparity fully, yet it raises another, growing
out of the great social advancement connected with the mental devel-
opment — i. e., the effect of the distinctively demotic organization pf
the human genus as represented by the Seri people. On considering
this organization, it is found strictly maternal: the tribe is made up of
clans defined by consanguinity reckoned only in the female line; each
clan is headed by an elderwoman, and comprises a hierarchy of daugh-
ters, granddaughters, and (sometimes) great-granddaughters, collect-
ively incarnating that purity of uncoutaminated blood which is the
pride of the tribe; and this female element is supplemented by a mas-
culine element in the persons of brothers, who may be war-chiefs or
shamans, and may hence dominate the movements of groups, but whose

1 The fandamental distinction is none the less valid by reason of the ocoasional combination of
functions, as in the antelope " cbrysauthemum " interpreted by Seton-Thompson.

Bureau of American ethnc

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL XXVI

CHARACTERISTIC FACE PAINTING

MCGEE] DESIGNS MARK BLOOD-CARRIERS 169*

blood counts as nothing in the establishment and maintenance of the
clan organization. Thus the females alone are the blood-carriers of
the clans; they alone require ready and certain identification in order
that their institutional theory and practice maybe maintained; and
hence they alone need to become bearers of the sacred blood-standards.
The warriors belong to the tribe, and are distinguished by luxuriantly
flowing hair, by the up stepping movement from which the people
derive their appellation, by their unique archery attitude, and by their
dark skin-color; the boys count for little until they enter the warrior
class ; but on the females devolves the duty of defining and maintain-
ing the several streams of blood on which the rigidly guarded tribal
integrity depends.' Undoubtedly the blood-markings play an impor-
tant r61e in courtship and marriage, but too little is known of the
esoteric life of the tribe to permit this role to be traced.

In brief, the Seri face-painting would seem to be essentially zoose-
matic, or symbolic of zoic tutelaries, and to signify subspecific (or sub-
varietal) characteristics maintained by the clan organization and kept
prominent by the militant habit of the tribe; at the same time it is
noteworthy that the purely symbolic motive is accompanied by a
nascent decorative tendency, displayed by the individual refinement of
form and color in the symbol proper to each of the groups.

DECORATION IN GENERAL

Aside from the face-painting there is a conspicuous dearth of decora-
tion or tangible symbolism among the Seri.

The symbolic or decorative modification of the physique would seem
to be limited to two classes of mutilations, of which one was observed
at Costa Eica in 1894 while the other is apparently obsolete. The
observed corporeal modification is the absence of medial superior
incisors of the females, in consequence of forcible removal at a period
not definitely ascertained. The interpreter at Costa Rica was uncom-
municative on the subject; Don Pascual opined that the mutilation
formed part of an elaborate puberty ceremonial, and this opinion would
seem to be corroborated by the condition of the cranium of an imma-
ture female examined by Dr Hrdlicka; but since the half-dozen adult
maidens at the rancho in 1894 were free from the mutilation while all the
wives bore its gruesome trace, it would seem more probable that the
custom is connected with marriage. Whatever the period of the inflic-
tion, Mash^m's guarded expressions seemed to indicate that it was
a mark of physical inferiority; and this suggestion, interpreted in
the light of the Seri use of teeth as weapons of offense and defense,
would seem to indicate that the mutilation is at once the badge of cor-
poreal inferiority and a means of maintaining the physical superiority
of the males — of course in that theoretically fiducial but actually force-
ful way characteristic of priinitive culture.

1 The essentially zoocratic nature, of Seri law and custom is set forth postea, p. 294.

170* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

The second mutilation was the only corporeal modification noted by
early missionaries and explorers — it was the perforation of the nasal
septum for the insertion of a skewer, perhaps of polished stone (though
doubtless more commonly of bone), to which swinging objects were
attached. One of the most useful records is that of the Jesuit, Padre
Joseph Och, who described the nasal attachment as a small, coloxed
stone suspended by cords from the perforated septum, and guarded with
such jealous veneration that "one must give them at least a horse or a
cow for one" (ante, p. 78); while according to Hardy's record, the
nasal fetish is "a small, round, white bone, 5 inches in length, taper-
ing off at both ends, and rigged something like a cross-jack yard.''^

Fig. 7— Snake-skin belt.

The custom is apparently obsolete, and nothing is known directly of
details or motives.

Excepting these mutilations the corporeal decoration of the Seri is
apparently limited to the face-painting: among the 60 individuals at
Costa Eica in 1894 there was no trace of tattooing or scarification of
face, limbs, or body; there were no labrets or earrings, and' neither
lips nor ears were pierced, nor were nasal septa observed to be per-
forated in accordance with the reputed ancient custom ; the teeth were
neither filed nor drilled; no indications of amputation or other maim-
ing (save the removal of the incisors) were observed — indeed, the
instinct for physical markings of symbolic or decorative character,
which seems to be normal to primitive men, was apparently satisfied
by the prevalent and persistent face-painting among the females.

The extra-corporeal decorative devices are of a meageruess and pov-

' Travels, p. 28rf.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL.XXVII

SERI FACE PAINTING PARAPHERNALIA.

MC QEH]

EXTRA-CORPOREAL DECORATION

17P

erty even transcending the poor apparel, flimsy habitations, and gen-
erally ill-developed artifacts of the lowly tribe.

The most prominent personal possession is the pelican-skin robej it
is usually made of six skins, slightly dressed and in full plumage, sewed
together with sinew in a conventional pattern of such sort as to give
the greatest possible expanse consistent with the irregular outlines of
the individual skins, and at the same time to display a conventional
color pattern on the feathered side, the colors ranging from the dorsal
slate to the ventral white of the fowl (as indicated in plate xxiii);
sometimes there are only four skins and rarely there are eight, but the
conventional arrangement is maintained. Before the beginning of a

Fig. 8— Dried flower necklace.

fairly regular barter at Eancho de Costa Rica, and hence before the intro-
duction of manta and other stuffs, the pelican-skin robes were supple-
mented by kilts made of mesquite root or other fibers, spun and twisted
in the fingers and woven probably on some primitive device no longer
in use; but so far as is known these native fabrics were devoid of deco-
rative patterns in color or weave. Less habitually a short wammus or
shirt, with long sleeves, made of a material similar to that of the kilt,
was worn; but it, too, was without ornamentation, so far as can be
ascertained. The remaining article of utilitarian apparel is the belt,
usually consisting of a strip of skin (of deer, rabbit, peccary, etc),
slightly dressed with the hair on; frequently this is replaced, by a cord
or braided band of human hair, while the favorite belt of some of the

172*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANM. 17

young warriors is a snake skin (such as that illustrated in figure 7) ; but
so far as was seen the belts are not extended into tassels, decorative
appendages, or even flowing ends.

The presumptively decorative costumery observed is limited to neck-
laces, usually of strung seeds, shells, and beads of wood or bone (fig-
ures 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13), though animal appendages, such as hoofs,
teeth, etc, are sometimes worn. The most highly prized necklace found
at Costa Eica was a human-hair cord with nine crotalua rattles attached
(figure 14), worn by a young warrior of the Eattlesnake ( ?) clan. Not
the slightest indication of head-
dresses was seen (though deer
and lion masks are said by
Hardy to have been worn on
occasions) ; there were no brace-

Fig. 10— Nut pendants.

Fig. 11— Shell beads. Fia. 12— Wooden beads.

lets, leg-bands, or rings of any description, and the cheap jewelry
given to many of the women and youths ait Costa Eica was either
strung about the neck or concealed; while it is significant that even the
showiest jewelry was less appreciated than bits of manta or lumps of
sugar. When it is remembered that the Seri have been in occasional
contact witlj Caucasians for over three and a half centuries, the fact
that not a single glass bead was found among them becomes signifi-
cant; and the significance of the simple fact is increased by the virtual
absence of that persistent desire and protean use for beads— or bead-
sense— so prominent among most primitive tribes.

MC'KEE]

WEAKNESS OP DECORATIVE SENSE

173*

Naturally the conditions at Costa Eica were unfavorable to the study
of native ideas concerning apparel. The women and some of the chil-
dren were arrayed chiefly in cast-off habiliments of
the rancheras or in nondescript rags, while the men
either aped Mexican fashions, like Mash^m, or shame-
facedly sweltered under the unaccustomed burden of
tatterdemalion gear; yet there was a meaningful
absence of that desire for finery so prominent among
primitive peoples — a fact quite as eloquent in itself
as the absence of bracelets and bangles, tassels and
trappings. It is probable that the shamans and
mystery-hedged crones in the depths of Seriland
enhance their influence by the aid of symbolic para-
phernalia (indeed, some inkling of such customs is
found in the meager records of earlier visitors) ;' yet
the conspicuous feature of Seri costumery is the
dearth of decorative devices.

The habitations of the tribe are the simplest of
jacales — mere bowers, affording partial protection
from sun and wind, but not designed to shed rain
or bar cold. Half a dozen of these were examined at
Costa Eica in 1894 and probably a huudred more, in
various stages of habitability, in Seriland proper in
1895, yet not the slightest trace of decoration was
observed — the structures are plainly and barrenly
utilitarian in. every feature. The same may be said
of the balsas in which the Seri navigate their stormy
waters ; for the peculiarly graceful curves of the craft
evidently stand for nothing more than the mechanical
solution of a complex problem in balanced forces,
wrought out through the experience of generations,
while the simple reed bundles are absolutely devoid
of paint, of superfluous cord, of fetishistic appendages
or markings, of tritons, nereids, or other votive sym-
bols at bow or stern, and of industrially superfluous
features or attachments in general — indeed, the only
appendages discovered were one or two simple wooden
marlinspikes (shown in figure 26), thrust among the
reeds to be at hand in case of need for repairs.

Among the utensils employed in the primitive
householdry of the Seri the most conspicuous and
at the same time the most essential is the olla, or
water-jar. Its technical features are described elsewhere; but it may
here be noted that the olla is the central artifact about which the very

1 Hardy noted the use of " a small leathern bag, painted and otherwise ornamented ", as a medicine
rattle (Trarels, p. 282), and also described a wind-symbol and an effigy used for thanmaturgic pur-
poses (ibid., pp. 294, 295).

ria. 13— Necklace of
wooden beads.

174*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

life of tbe tribe rotates : since the clans never reside and rarely camp
nearer than 3 to 15 miles from the aguaje, a large part of the water
consumed must be transported great distances in these vessels; since
the region is one of extreme aridity, the lives of small parties often
depend on the integrity of the olla and on the care with which the
fragile vessel is protected from shock or overturning; and hence the
utensil must occupy a large if not a dominant place in everyday
thought — indeed, the fact that it does so is attested by constant
custom and also by its employment as the most conspicuous among

"FiQ. 14 — Kattlesnake uecklace.

Thus, the relation of the Seri olla to its

the mortuary sacrifices,
makers and users is parallel with that of the ever-present earthen pot
to the Pueblo people, or that of the cooking basket to the acorn-
eaters of California, save that its relative importance is enhanced
by the fewness of activital lines and motives in Seri life. Moreover,
this most characteristic utensil is established and hallowed in Seri
thought by immemorial associations: its sherds are sown over the
hundred thousand square miles of ancient " despoblado" from Tiburon to
Caborca, Magdalena, Kio Opodepe, and Cerro Prieto, and are scattered
through the 90 feet of shells forming Punta Antigualla (perhaps the
oldest shell mound of America); and all the sherds from the range

MCGEE] THE PAINTED OLLA 175*

and the shell-strata are so like and so different from any other fictile
ware as to be distinguished at a glance. Hence it would seem manifest
that the Seri oUa must constitute a normal nucleus for the Seri esthetic;
yet even here the field is practically barren, as is shown by the study of
a score of usable and mortuary specimens and of thousands of sherds.
The most ornate si)ecimen seen is that depicted in plate xxxii. Its
form, like that of the balsa, is a mechanical equation of forces and
materials; its body-color is that of the clay, blotched and blackened
irregularly by the smoke of the firing; and its decoration is limited to
17 faint lines or bands radiating downward from the ill-shaped neck.
The radial bands were evidently drawn by a finger dipped in clayey
water after the vessel was otherwise finished for the firing; they are
irregular in placement, width, length, and direction; they generally
run in pairs, two straight lines alternating with two zigzag lines, though
the circuit is completed by two zigzags drawn wide apart and separated
by a single straight line. The meaning of the device (if meaning there
be) was not directly ascertained ; but it is suggestive that its maker and
owner was the mother of the youthful warrior from whom the rattle-
snake necklace was obtained (her face-symbol is that shown in the
lower left figure of plate xxvi), and that the vessel was surrendered
more reluctantly than any other article obtained from the tribe.

Another utensil of some importance to the tribe is a basket of the
type illustrated in figure 24. It is manufactured with much skill
and is used for various domestic purposes, being practically water-tight
and unbreakable, and materially lighter than even the unparalleledly
light fictile ware of the Seri. In form and size and weave the half dozen
examples seen correspond with widespread southwestern types; yet it
is noteworthy that while otherwise similar baskets are habitually decor-
ated by other basket-making tribes, the Seri specimens were absolutely
devoid of decorative devices.

Practically the only remaining artifacts available for decoration are
those connected with archery; and it suffices to say that while the bows
are skilfully made and the arrows constructed with exceeding pains,
not a single specimen seen showed the slightest trace of symbolism or
of nonutilitarian motive.

Summarily, the Seri are characterized by extreme esthetic poverty.
This has been noted by the early missionaries and by the few other trav-
elers who have approached their haunts, as well as by the vaqueros on
the Encinas and Serna and other ranches bordering their range, who
know them as "los pobrecitos". All observers have been struck with
their destitution and squalor; yet when the impressions are particular-
ized they are seen to denote absence of the poor luxuries, rather than
the bare necessities, of primitive life. The people are pathetically poor
in the industrial sense; their equipment in artifacts — implements,
weapons, utensils, habitations, apparel — is meager almost, if not quite,
beyond parallel in America; yet their esthetic equipment, practically

176* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ank.17

limited as it is to a single line of symbolic portrayal, is still more
abjectly meager.

Any comparison of the Seri esthetic with that of other Amerind
tribes serves only to emphasize its paucity: the tribes of the plains,
with their eagle-feather headdresses, elaborately arranged scalp-locks,
widely varied face-painting, and ritualistic camp circles; the Pueblo
peoples, with their ornate masks, elaborate altars, figured stuffs, and
painted pottery; the denizens of the eastern woods, with their feather-
decked peace-pipes, divinatory games, fringe-bordered garments, and
prayer-inscribed arrows; the coastwise peoples of the upper Pacific,
with their labrets and tattoo-marks, totem-poles and carved house-
fronts, painted canoes and prodigal potlatches; the neighboring desert
tribes, with their festal footraces, decorated pottery and basketry,
pendent scarfs and garters, and well- wrought caskets for family fetishes;
even the timid acorn-eaters of California, with their sacramentafbaskets,
artistically befringed kilts, bead-strings of far-traveled nacre, and
patiently wrought fabrics of rare feathers — all of these seem rich in
esthetic motives when contrasted with "los pobrecitos" of arid Seriland.
And the contrast is only intensified whe*" the economic motives of the
various tribes are compared: the industrial motives of the Seri are
fairly numerous and diverse; they are skilful huntsmen, successful
fishermen, capable navigators, and competent warriors (as attested by
the protectiou of their principality for centuries), so that despite the
absence of agriculture and the avoidance of commerce, their industrial
range is not very far below the aboriginal average; and while they are
deficient in thrift, this shortcoming is balanced by a peculiarly devel-
oped vital economy whereby they are delicately adjusted to their
environment, as has been already shown. On the whole, it would
appear that the Seri are not only lower in esthetic development than
the contemporary tribes thus far studied, but also that they stand at
the bottom of the scale in" the ratio of esthetic to industrial motives.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DECORATION

Largely through recent researches among the American aborigines,
it has been shown that decorative and many if not all other esthetie
concepts normally arise in symbolism, gradually expand in conven-
tionism, and eventually mature in a realism which is itself the source,
of ever-extending esthetic motives ;. and the observations on the lowly
Seri afford opportunity for somewhat extending the generalizations
based on higher tribes.

When peoples of unequal cultural development are compared, it is
commonly found that the higher are the more independent in action
and thought: thus, advanced peoples make conquest of nature for their
own behoof, while primitive peoples are largely creatures of environ-
ment; Caucasian citizens are self-conscious lawmakers, while Amerind
tribesmen are semiconsciously dominated by mysteries fearsomely

MCQEE] LINES OF ESTHETIC PROGRESS 177*

interpreted by their shamans ; and, in general, enlightened men think
and speak freely, come and go as they like, and discard the badges of
conveutionism, while savages are constrained by customs carrying the
power of law, controlled by precedent, and clothed in hierarchic regalia.
So, too, when a particular series of tribes are compared, it is found that
those of higher culture (or wider knowledge) are the more independent)
the more given to essays in social and industrial and other lines of
activity, and hence the more varied in esthetic and economic motives:
thus, the several Iroquoian tribes integrated the knowledge proper to
each, and thus made themselves an intellectual and physical power
able to eliminate or assimilate the isolated tribes on their borders; the
sages of the Siouan stock induced the warriors of their leading tribes
to combine in a circle of seven council fires, which grew into the great
Dakota confederacy and soon gained strength to dominate the entire
northern plains; but while these and other federations were pushing
forward on the way leading to feudalism and thence to national organi-
zation, the self-centered California tribes consecrated their tongues to
their own kindred, thereby stifling culture at its source and virtually
leashing themselves unto the acorn-bearing oaks of their respective
glades. Still more striking are the differences in independence revealed
by a comparison of human and subhuman organisms; for the humans
are immeasurably freer and more spontaneous in thought and action
than even the highest beasts: thus, the Seri blood-bearer applies,
renews, and elaborates her face-mark at will, while the antelope and
the raccoon unconsciously develop their standard-marks through the
tedious operation of vital processes regulated under the cruel law of
survival; men make their beds according to the dictates of judgment,
while the half-artiflcialized dog lies down in accordance with a heredi-
tary custom which has been needless for a hundred generations; and
the very essence of human activity is volitional choice (or artificial
selection), while the keynote of merely organic agency is the nonvoli-
tional chance of natural selection. No less striking are the differences
found on comparing other realms of nature, in which the higher are
invariably characterized by the greater independence; the animal
realm is distinguished from the vegetal realm mainly by the posses-
sion of volitional motility; while the vegetal is distinguished from
the mineral realm chiefly by those better selective powers exemplified
in vital growth. The several comparisons seem to define that course
of volitional development arising in the chemical and mechanical affini-
ties of the mineral realm, burgeoning in simple vitality, multiplying in
the motility of animal life, greatly expanding in the collective activity
of demotic organization, and culminating in the conquest of nature
through the mind-guided powers of enlightened mankind. Expressed
briefly, this course of development may be characterized as the pro-
gressive passage from automacy to autonomy.
The volitional development thus seriated may be divided, somewhat
17 BTH 12

178* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

arbitrarily yet none the less safely, into its esthetic and economic
factors; and, for convenience, the latter maybe considered to comprise
the industrial, institutional, linguistic, and sophic constituents — i. e,,
the esthetic activities may be juxtaposed against the several other activi-
ties of demotic life. When this division is made, it at once becomes
manifest that the esthetic activities are the freest and most spontaneous
of the series, and hence lead the way to that autonomy which marks
the highest development. This significant relation has been glimpsed
by various artists and poets, scholars and naturalists; it was at least
partly caught by Goethe when he taught that knowledge begins in
wonder; it was loosely seized by Schiller, and later by Spencer, in the
surplus-energy theory of play; it was grasped by Groos in his prophecy
theory of play,' and still more firmly (although less conspicuously) by
Seton-Thompsou in his analysis of animal conduct and motives. The
relation has for some years been recognized as one of the 'principles
underlying the American ethnologic researches; yet it is not so well
understood as to obviate the need for further consideration. Accord-
ingly it may be pointed out that while the human activities and the
agencies of lower nature rest alike on a mechanical foundation, the
mechanical element diminishes in relative magnitude in passing from
the lower to the higher realms of nature: in the mineral realm the
agencies may be deemed mechanical in character and individual in
eftect; in the vegetal realm vitality is superadded, and the effects are
carried forward through heredity; in the animal realm motility is
added in turn, and instinct arises to shape the individual and heredi-
tary and motile attributes; the social realm may be considered to be
marked by the accession of conjustment, with its multifarious and
beneficent effects on individuals, generations, movements, and groups;
while the rational realm maybe defined as that arising with the acces-
sion of reason as a guide to action, and with the. development of
nature-conquest as its most characteristic effect^though it is to be
noted that the several transitions are progressive rather than saltatory.
Thus each realm is characterized by the attributes of each and all of
those lower in the scale, plus its own distinctive attribute. It may
also be p(jiuted out that each new attribute defining a higher realm is
freer and more spontaneous than those of lower realms; for vitality is
freer than mere afflnity, self-movement than mere growth, and cooper-
ation than mere movement, while reason-led action is freest of all.
Accordingly each realm (as already implied) is characterized by a larger
autonomy than any of those lower in the scale; i. e., by all the factors
of autonomy in the lower realms, plus its own distinctive factor.

It may be pointed out further that, in the higher realms at least,
the action normal to each realm tends to generate that characteristic
of the next higher realm: the self-movement of the animal realm is,
under favorable conditions, constrained through vital economy to fall

' Cf. American Anthropologist, new series, vol. 1, 1899, p. 374.

MCOEE] SPONTANEITY OF THE ESTHETIC 179*

into the conjastment of the social realm; aud the organization of the
social realm, involving aa it does a hierarchic arrangement of organ-
isms according to mentality,^ habituates the higher individuals of the
organizations to that control of lower individuals which buds in agri-
culture, blossoms in civil rule, and fruits in nature-conquest. Thus
the factors of each realm are prophetic of the distinctive factor of the
next higher — and the prophecy is not merely passive, but is, rather, an
actual step in causal sequence.

It may be pointed out still further that, in the higher realms at least,
spontaneous action necessarily precedes maturely developed function :
in the vegetal realm the tree shoots upward before its lorm is shaped
and its tissue textured by wind and sun and environing organisms; in
the animal realm youthful play presages the prosaic performances nor-
mal to adult life; in the social realm men behave before framing laws
of behavior; and in the rational realm fortuitous discovery paves the
road for sure-footed invention. Thus natural initiative arises in spon-
taneous action, while mechanical action is mainly consequential.

It may be pointed out finally that the field of spontaneous action is
relatively increased with the endless multiplications of action accom-
panying the passage from the lower realms to the higher — indeed the
relations may be likened unto those of exogenous growth, which is
largely withdrawn from the irresponsive and stable interior structures
and gathered into the responsive and spontaneously active peripheral
structures; so that spontaneous activity attending natural development
is relatively more important in the higher stages than in the lower.*

Now, on combining the several indications it is found clear (1) that
the more spontaneous developmental factor in all normal growth cor-
responds with the esthetic factor in demotic activity; (2) that this is
the initiatory factor and the chief determinant of the rate and course
of development; (3) that it is of relatively enlarged prominence in the
higher stages; and hence (4) that the esthetic activities afi'ord a means
of measuring developmental status or the relative positions in terms of
development of races and tribes.

On applying these principles to the Seri tribe, in the light of their
meager industrial motives and still poorer esthetic motives, it would
appear that they stand well at the bottom of the scale in demotic
development. Their somatic characteristics are suggestively primi-
tive, as already shown ; and the testimony of these characteristics is
fully corroborated by that of their esthetic status as interpreted in the
light of the laws of growth.

1 The spontaneoas arrangement of organisms in accordance -with mental grade is -well, illustrated by
that solidarity of desert life which matures in the cultivation af plants and the investigation of ani-
mals (The Beginning of Agriculture, in The American Anthropologist, vol. viii, October, 1895, pp.
350-375; The Beginning of Zooculture, ibid., vol. X, July 1897, pp. 215-230.)

"The laws of growth recognized herein have been somewhat more fully outlined elsewhere, notably
in The Earth the Home of Man (Anthropological Society of Washington, Special Papers 2, 1894, pp.
3-8), and in Piratical Acculturation (American Anthropologist, vol. XI, 1898, pp. 243-249).

180* THE SEKI INDIANS [KTH.iNN.l7

Industries and Industeial Products

The pacific vocations of tlie Seri are few. They are totally without
agricalture, and even devoid of agricultural sense, though they con-
sume certain fruits and seeds in season ; they are without domestic
animals, though they live in cotoleration with half-wild dogs, and per-
haps with pelicans; and they are without commerce, save that primi-
tive and inimical interchange commonly classed as pillage and robbery.
Accordingly, their pacific industries are limited to those connected
with (1) sustentation, chiefly by means of fishing and the chase; (2)
navigation and carrying, (3) house-building, [4.) appareling, and (5)
manufacturing their simple implements and utensils; and these con-
structive industries are balanced and conditioned by the destructive
avocation of (6) nearly continuous warfare.

FOOD AND FOOD-GETTING

The primary resource of Seriland is raised to the first place in
realized importance only by its rarity, viz, potable water — a com-
modity so abundant in most regions as to divert conscious attention
from its paramount role in physiologic function as well as in industrial
economy. The overwhelming importance of this food-source is worthy
of closer attention than ib usually receives. Classed by function,
human foods are (1) nutrients, including animal and vegetal substances
which are largely assimilated and absorbed into the system ; (2) asslmi-
lants, including - condiments, etc, which promote alimentation and
apparently aid metabolism; (3) paratriptics, or waste preventers,
including alcohol and other stimulants, which in some little-understood
way retard the waste of tissue and consequent dissipation of vital
• energy; and (4) diluents, which modify the consistency of solid foods
and thereby facilitate assimilation, besides maintaining the water of
the system. Classed by chemic constitution, the foods may be divided
into (1) proteids, or nitrogenous substances, including the more com
plex animal and vegetal compounds; (2) fats, or noiinitrogenous sub-
stances in which the ratio of hydrogen and'oxygen is unlike that of
water, and which are second in complexity among animal and vegetal
compounds; (3) carbohydrates, or nounitrogenous compounds of car-
bon with hydrogen and oxygen in the proportions required to form
water, which are among the simpler vegetal and animal compounds;
and (4) minerals, chiefly water, with relatively minute quantities of
various salts. Both classifications are somewhat indefinite, largely
because most articles of food combine two or more of the classes; yet
they are useful in that they indicate the high place of the simple
mineral water among food substances. Quantitatively this constit-
uent stands far in the lead among foods; the human adult consumes
a daily mean of about 4J pounds of simple liquids and 2^ pounds of
nominally solid, but actually more than half watery, food; so that the

MCQEE] PRIME VALUE OF WATER 181*

average man daily ingests nearly 6 pounds of water and but little over 1
pound of actually solid nutrients. Thus the ratio of the consumption
of liquid food to that of solids is (naturally, in view of that readier elimi-
nation of the liquid constituent so characteristic especially of arid
regions) somewhat larger than the ratio of water to solids in the human
system, the ratios being nearly 6 : 1 and 4 : 1, respectively.' This analysis
serves measurably to explain the peculiarly developed water-sense of all
desert peoples, a sense finding expression in the first tenets of faith
among the Pueblos, in the fundamental law of the Papago, and in the
strongest instinct of the Seri; for among folk habituated to thirst
through terrible (albeit occasional) experience, water is the central
nucleus of thought about which all other ideas revolve in appropriate
orbits — it is an ultimate standard of things incomparably more stable
and exalted than the gold of civilized commerce, the constantly
remembered basis of life itself.

The potable water of Seriland is scanty in the extreme. The aggre-
gate daily quantity available during ten months of the average year
(excluding the eight wettest weeks of the two moist seasons) can hardly
exceed 0.1 or 0.2 of a second-foot, or 60,000 to 125,000 gallons per day, of
living water, i. e., less than the mean supply for each thousand residents
of a modern city, or about that consumed in a single hotel or apartment
house. Probably two-thirds of this meager supply is confined to a sin-
gle rivulet (Arroyo Carrizal) in the interior of Tiburon, far from the
food-yielding coasts, while the remainder is distributed over the 1,600
square miles of Seriland in a few widely separated aguajes, of which
only two or three can be considered permanent; and this normal sup-
ply is supplemented by the brackish seepage in storm-cut runnels, as
at Barranca Salina, or in shallow wells, as at Pozo Escalante and Pozo
Hardy, which is fairly fresh and abundant for a few weeks after each
moist season, but bitterly briny if not entirely gone before the begin
ning of the next. The scanty aggregate serves not only for the human
but for the bestial residents of the Seri principality; and its distribution
is such that the mean distance to the nearest aguaje throughout the
entire region is 8 or 10 miles, while the extreme distances are thrice
greater.

The paucity of potable water and the remoteness of its sources natu-
rally affect the habits of the folk; and the effect is intensified by a curi-
ous custom, not fully understood, though doubtless connected with
militant instincts fixed (like the habits of primitive men generally) by
abounding faith and persistent ritualistic practice — i. e., the avoidance
of living waters in selecting sites for habitations or even temporary
camps. Thus the principal rancherias on Tiburou island, about Eada
Ballena, are some 4 miles from Tinaja Anita, the nearest aguaje; the

■ The place of water among food substances is more fully discussed in The Potable Waters of
Eastern United States, 14th Ann. Rep. of the U. S. Geol. Survey, 1894, pp. 5-8; the physiologic conse-
quencws of deprivation of water are outlined in The Thirst of the Desert, Atlantic Monthly, April
1898, pp. 483-488.

182* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ans.17

extensive rancherias near Punta Narragansett measure 10 miles by
trail from the same aguaje; the half dozen jacales about Campo Navidad
are separated by some 15 miles of stony and hilly pathway from the
alternative watering places of Tinaja Anita and Arroyo Carrizal;' and
the huts crowning the great shell-heap of Punta Antigualla— one of
the most striking records of immemorial occupancy in America— are
nearly or quite 10 miles by trail from Pozo Bscalante, and still further
from Aguaje Parilla, the nearest sources of potable water. These are
but typical instances; and while there are ruined huts (evidently
regarded as temporales) near the dead waters of Barranca Salina and
Pozo Escalante, they tell the tribal policy of locating habitations ia
places surprisingly remote from running water. Like other desert
folk, the Seri have learned to economize in water-carrying by swigging
incredible quantities on their occasional visits to the aguajes; it is prob-
able, too, that their systems are inured, somewhat as are those of
the desert animals that survive deprivation of water for days or months,
to prolonged abstinence from liquid food ; yet it seems safe to assume
that at least half of the water required in their vital economy (say 2 or
3 pounds apiece daily, on an average) is consumed after transportation
over distances ordinarily ranging from 4 to 12 miles. Under these
conditions the Seri have naturally produced a highly developed water
industry; they are essentially and primarily water-carriers, and all
their other industries are subordinated to this function.

Concordantly with their customs, the Seri have a highly differentiated
aquarian device in the form of a distinctive type of oUa, which is
remarkable for the thinness and fragility of the ware, i. e., for largeness
of capacity in proportion to weight. Eepresentative specimens are
illustrated in plates xxxii and xxxiii (the former painted, as already
described). The dimensions of the two vessels are as follows : painted
olla, height 34 cm. (13| inches), mean diameter 32.5 cm. (12^ inches);
plain olla, height 32 cm. (12§ inches), mean diameter 32 cm. In both
specimens the walls are. slightly thickened at the brim, those of the
painted vessel measuring about 4 mm. and those of the plain vessel
about 4.5 to 5 mm. in thickness. Below the brim the walls are thinned to
about 3 mm., as is shown in the fractured neck of the painted specimen.
The capacity of these Seri vessels in proportion to their weight, com-
pared with that of typical examples of ware produced by other desert
peoples, is shown in the accompanying table.

Comparison of the mean ratios indicates that the Seri ware is almost
exactly twice as economical as thatof the Pueblos — i. e., that its capacity
is twice as great in proportion to the weight of the vessel; and that

' The preciousnesB of water in this hard province was impressed in the 1895 expedition, during
which the cost of the commodity, reckoned on the basis of the time and labor involved in obtaining
it, was estimated at $10 or $12 per gallon, or about the wholesale price of the finest champagnes.

LIGHTNESS OF SERI OLLAS

183*

even the ware of the wide- wandering Papago is more extravagant than
that of the Seri in the ratio of 100 to 54. It is noteworthy, too, that
the typical Seri ware is much more uniform than that of the other
tribes; the various specimens seen in use at Costa Eica, and nearly
entire in various parts of Seriland, were closely similar in form and
nearly alike in dimensions; while the innumerable smaller fragments
scattered over Seriland and th^p neighboring "despoblado" or buried
amid the shells of Punta Antigualla correspond precisely in thickness,
in curvature, in material, and in finish with the ware observed in use.
Neither the manufacture of the ware nor the sources of material have
been observed by Caucasians. Examination of the specimens indicates
that the material is a fine and somewhat micaceous clay, apparently
an adobe derived from granitoid rocks; and such material might be

Batio of capacity to weight among

Indian ollas '

Capacity

Weight

Eatio

Mean ratio

Seri:

Plain

Litere
15.14
15.61

17.03
8.51
15.14
12.30
15.61
13.72

Kilogramii
1.91
2:30

4.08
2.38
3.82
3.18
4.31
4.06

0.126
.147

.239
.279
.252
.258
.276
.295

0.137-

Papago :

No.l

.253

No.2..

Sia

Zuni

Aooma

.271

Hopi

obtained in various parts of Seriland. The structure of the ware
reveals no trace of coiling or other building process, nor does the tex-
ture clearly attest the beating process emjiloyed by the Papago potters;
but there is a well-defined lamellar structure, and the surfaces (espe-
cially inner) are striated circumferentially or spirally in such manner
as to suggest a process of rubbing under considerable pressure. All
the specimens are so asymmetric as to indicate the absence of mechan-
cal devices approaching the potter's wheel, while the necks are of such
size as to admit the hand and forearm of an adult female but not of a
warrior. Some suggestion of the manufacturing process is afforded by
miniature fetishistic and mortuary specimens, such as those depicted
in figures 17 and 18, and the larger specimens shown in figure 39, which
were evidently shaped from lumps of suitable clay first hollowed and
then gradually expanded by manipulation with the fingers, with little
if any aid from implements of any sort. On putting the various indi-

> In this tahle the ratio is expressed by the weight in kilograms for each liter in capacity. The
Papago and Pueblo specimens were selected from typical material in the National Museum and at
random, save that in the Pueblo ollas choice was made of specimens corresponding approximately in
size with those of the Seri,

184*

THE SERI INDIANS

[etH. ANN. 17

cations together it would seem probable that the
ware is made by the women, and that each piece is
shaped from a lump of tempered and well-kneaded
clay of suitable size, first hollowed and rudely shaped
over one hand, and gradually expanded by spiral
rubbing, kneading, and pressure between the hands
of the maker. The burning is incomplete and vari-
able, suggesting a little outdoor fire in a shallow pit
adapted to a single vessel. The ware is without
glaze or slip or other surflcial treatment save that
the lamellar texture is best developed toward the
surfaces; hence it is so porous that the filled vessel is
moist even in the sun.
Ordinarily women are the water-bearers, each -car-
rying an olla
balanced on
the head with
the aid of a
slightly elas-
tic annular
cushion, usu-
ally fashioned
of yucca fiber
(plate XXXII
and figure
15), though in
some cases
two oUas are
slung in nets
at the ends of
a yoke (figure
16) after the
Chinese coolie fashion (this device being apparently
accultural).

The function of the conventional Seri olla is exclu-
sively that of a canteen or water-carrying vessel, and
its form is suited to no other use; while its lines, like
its thinness of wall, are adapted to the stresses of
internal and external pressure in such wise as to give
maximum strength with minimum weight. It is by
reason of this remarkably delicate adaptation of
materials to purposes that the plain olla figured in
plate XXXIII, weighing an ounce or two more than 10
pounds in dry air, holds and safely carries three and
one-third times its weight of water. When such ollas
are broken, the larger pieces may be used as cups or

Fio. 15— Seri olfa ring.

,1!

iji

FiQ. 36— Water,
bearer's yoke.

MCGEE]

ERRATIC FICTILE WARE

185*

Fio. 17— Symbolic mortuary
olla.

dislies, or even as kettles, in the rare culinary operations of the tribe (as
shown in plate x) ; but the entire vessels appear to be religiously devoted
to their primary purpose.

While some three-fourths of the observed fictile ware of the Seri and
a still larger proportion of the scattered sherds represent conventional
ollas, there are a few erratic forms. The most conspicuous of these is a
smaller, thicker-walled, and larger-necked type, of which three or four
examples were observed; two of these were in
use (one is represented lying at the left of the
jacal in plate x), and another was found cracked
and abandoned on the desert east of Playa
Noriega. The vessels of this type are used pri-
marily as kettles and only incidentally as can-
teens. In both form and function they suggest
accultural origin; but the ware is much like
that of the conventional type. Another' erratic
type takes the form of a deep dish or shallow
bowl, of rather thick walls and clumsy form,
which may be accultural; a single example was
observed in use (it is shown in plate xiv). There are also mortuary
forms, including a miniature olla (figure 3d) and bowl (figure 41), and
such still smaller examples as those illustrated in figures 17 and 18.
In addition to the utensils a few fictile figurines were found. Most of
these were crude or distorted animal effigies, and one (broken) was a
rudely shaped and strongly caricatured female figure some 2 inches
high, with exaggerated breasts and pudenda. Analogy with neighbor-
ing tribes suggests that the very small
vessels and the figurines are fetishistic
appurtenances to the manufacture of
the pottery; e. g., that the fetish is
I t»r ," ,, A molded at the same time and from the

I ^ ' * . - i^l same material as the olla, and is then

burned with it, theoretically as an in-
vocation against cracking or other in-
jury, but practically as a "draw-piece"
for testing the progress of the firing.

By far the most numerous of the
utensils connected with potable water
are drinking-cups and small bowls or
dishes; but these are merely molluscan shells of convenient size, picked
up ailongshorCj used once or oftener, and either discarded or carried
habitually witliout other treatment than the natural wear of use (an
example is illustrated in figure 19). Larger bowls or trays are improvised
from entire carapaces of the tortoise (probably Oopherus agassizii),
which are carried considerable distances ; and still larger emergency
water- vessels consist of carapaces of the green turtle [Chelonia agas-

FiG. 18— Symbolic mortuary dish.

186*

THE SERI INDIANS

[BTH. AHN. IT

sizii), laid inverted in the jacales ; these shells also being used in natural
condition. No wrought shells, molluscan or chelonian, were observed
in use or found either in the jacales or on the hundreds of aban-
doned sites; but the vicinage of the rancherias, the abandoned camps
and house sites, and the more frequented paths are bestrewn with
slightly worn shells, evidently used for a time and then lost or dis-
carded. The relative abundance of the fictile ware and this natural
shell ware in actual use is about 1:3; i. e., each adult female
usually possesses a single olla of the conventional type, and there may
be one or two extra oUas and two or three clay dishes in each band or
clan, while each matron or marriageable maid is usually supplied with
two to four shell-cups and each little girl with one or two; and there
are twice as many carapace trays as clay dishes. The disproportion of

Fig. 19— Shell-cup.

pottery and shell about the abandoned sites is naturally much greater;
for the former is the most highly prized industrial possession of the
women, while the shells are easily gained and lightly lost.

With respect to solid food the Seri may be deemed omniverous
though their adjustment to habitat is such that they are practically
carniverous.

The most conspicuous single article in the dietary of the tribe is the
local green turtle. This chelonian is remarkably abundant throughout
Gulf of California; but its optimum habitat and breeding-place would
appear to be El Inflernillo, whose sandy beaches are probably better
adapted to egg laying and hatching than any other part of the coast.
Here it has been followed by the Seri; perhaps half of the aggregate
life of the tribe is spent within easy reach of its feeding and breeding
grounds, and tribesman and turtle have entered into an inimical com-

MCfiEE]

THE TURTLE FISHERIES

187*

munalty something like that of Siouan Indian and buffalo in olden time,
whereby both may benefit and whereby the more intelligent communal
certainly profits greatly. The flesh of the turtle yields food ; some of
its bones yield implements; its carapace yields a house covering, a con-
venient substitute for umbrella or dog-tent, a temporary buckler, and an
emergency tray or cistern, as well as a comfortable cradle at the begin-
ning of life and the conventional coftin at its end; while the only native

foot-gear known is a sandal made from the
integument of a turtle-flipper.

Doubtless the eggs and newly hatched
young of the turtle are eaten, and analogy
with other peoples indicates that the fe-
males are sometimes captured at the laying
grounds or on their way back to water;
but observation is limited to the taking of
the adult animal at sea by means of a
specialized harpoon. A typical specimen
of this apparatus, as constructed since the
introduction of flotsam iron, is illustrated
in figure 20. It comprises a point 3 or 4
inches long, made from a nail or bit of stout
wire, rudely sharpened by hammering the
tip (cold) between cobbles, and dislodging
the loosened scales and splinters by thrusts
and twirUngs in the ground; this is set
firmly and cemented with mesquite gum
into a foreshaft of hard wood, usually 4 or
5 inches long, notched to receive a cord
and rounded at the proximal end; the
rounded end of this foreshaft fits into a
socket of the main shaft, which may be
either a cane-stalk (as shown in the figure)
or a section of mesquite root; while a stout
cord is firmly knotted about the foreshaft
and either attached to the distal portion of
the main shaft or carried along it to the
hand of the user. The main shaft is usually
10 or 12 feet long, with the harpoon socket in the larger end, and is ma-
nipulated by a fisherman sitting or standing on his balsa. On catching
sight of a turtle lying in the water, he approaches stealthily, prefer-
ably from the rear yet in such wise as not to cast a frightening shadow,
sets the foreshaft in place, guides the point close to the carapace, and
then by a quick thrust drives the metal through the shell. The fric-
tional resistance between the chitin and .the nietal holds the point in
place, and although the foreshaft is jerked out at the first movement of
the transfixed animal the cord prevents escape; and after partial tiring

* El
iftl

Fio. 20— Turtle-harpoon.

188* THE SEEI INDIANS [bth.anu.i?

the turtle is either drowned or driven ashore, or.else lifted on the craft.'
Immediately on landing the quarry, the plastron is broken loose by
blows of the hupf ^ and torn off by vigorous wrenches of the warriors
and their strong-taloned spouses in the impetuous fury of a fierce
blood-craze like that of carnivorous beasts; the blood and entrails and
all soft parts are at once devoured, and the firmer flesh follows at a
rate depending on the antecedent hunger, both men and women
crushing integument and tendon and bone with the hupf, tearing other
tissues with teeth and nails, mouthing shreds from the shells, and
gorging the whole ravenously if well ahungered, but stopping to
singe and smoke or even half roast the larger pieces if nearer satiety.
If the quarry is too large for immediate consumption and not too far
from a rancheria the remnants (including head and flippers and shells)
are hoisted to the top of the jacal immediately over the open end— the
conventional Seri larder— to soften in the sun for hours or days; and
on these tough and gamey tidbits the home-stayers, especially the
youths, chew luxuriously whenever other occupations fail. In times of
plenty, such sun-ripened fragments of reeking feasts are rather gener-
ally appropriated first to the children and afterward to the coyote-
dogs; and it is a favorite pastime of the toddlers to gather about an
inverted carapace on hands and knees, crowding their heads into its
noisome depths, displacing the rare scavenger beetles and blowflies of
this arid province, mumbling at the cartilaginous processes, and
sucking and swallowing again and again the tendonous strings from
the muscular attachments, until, overcome by fulness and rank efflu-
vias, they fall asleep with their heads in the trough — to be stealthily
nudged aside by the cringing curs attached to the rancheria. Oora-

J A lively aud explicit account of Seri turtle-fishing appears in Hardy's Travels in the Interior of
Mexico, 1829, pp. 296-297: "Bruja'a bay is of considerable extent, and there are from five to three
fathoms water close to Arnold's island, in the neighborhood of which the Indians catch abundance of
turtle in a singular manner. I have already described their canoes, which Jn Spanish are called
'balsas'. An Indian paddles himself from the shore on one of these by means of a long, elastic pole of
about 12 or 14 feet in length, the wood of which is the root of a thorn called mesquite, growing near
the coast; and although the branches of this tree are extremely brittle, the underground roots are
as pliable as whalebone and nearly as dark in color. At one end of this pole there is a hole an inch
deep, into which is inserted another bit of wood, in shape like an acorn, having a square bit of iron
4 inches long fastened to it, the other end of the iron being pointed. Both the ball and cup are
first moistened and then tightly inserted one within the other. Fastened to the iron is a cord of very"
considerable length, which is brought up along the pole, and both are held in the left hand of the
Indian. So securely is the nail thus fixed in the pole that although the latter is used as a paddle it
does not fall out.

"A turtle is a very lethargic animal, and may frequently be surprised in its watery slumbers. The
balsa is placed nearly perpendicularly over one of these unsuspecting sleepers, when the fisherman,
softly sliding the pole through the water in the direction of the animal till within a foot or two of it,
he suddenly plunges the iron into its back. No sooner does the creature feel itself transfixed than it
swims hastily forward and endeavors to liberate itself. The slightest motion of the turtle displaces
the iron point from the long pole, which would otherwise be inevitably broken and the txirtle would
as certainly be lost; but in the manner here described it is held by the cord fastened on to the iron
which has penetrated its back till, after it has sufQciently exhausted its strength, it is hoisted on
board the canoe by the fisherman, who p^roceeds to the shore in order to dispose of bis prize."

2 The universal stone implement of the Seri, improvised from a cobblestone and used in nearly
every industrial occupation {see postea, p. 235) ; the designation is mimetic, or onomatopoetic, from the
sound of the stroke, particularly on animal tissue.

MOQEE] EFFECTIVENESS OF TURTLE TACKLE 189*

monly the carapace and the longer bones from the flippers of the larger
specimens are preserved entire for other»uses, and are cleaned only by
teeth and talons and tongues, aided by time but not by flre; but the
plastron, unless broken up and consumed immediately, is subjected to
a cooking process in which it serves at once as skillet and cutlet — it is
laid on the fire, flesh side up, and at intervals the shriveling tissues are
clawed off and devoured, while at last the scorched or charred scutes
themselves are carried away to be eaten at leisure.'

Perhaps the most significant fact connected with the Seri turtle-
fishing is the excellent ada.ptation of means to ends. The graceful and
effective balsa is in large measure an appurtenance of the industry;
the harpoon is hardly heavier and is much simpler than a trout-fishing
tackle, yet serves for the certain capture of a 200 pound turtle; and the
art of fishing for a quarry so shy and elusive that Caucasians may spend
weeks on the shores without seeing a specimen is reduced to a perfec-
tion even transcending that of such artifacts as the light harpoon and
fragile oUa. Hardly less significant is the nonuse of that nearly uni-
versal implement, the knife, in every stage of the taking and consumption
of the characteristic tribal prey; for it may fairly be inferred that the
comparative inutility of the knife in dissevering the hard and horny
chelonian derm, and the comparative effectiveness of the shell-breaking
and bone-crushing hupf, have reacted cumulatively on the instincts of
the tribe to retard the adoption of cuttingdevices. Of much significance,
too, is the limited cooking process ; for the habitual consumption of raw
flesh betokens a fireless ancestry at no remote stage, while the crude
cooking of (and in) that portion of the shell not consecrated to other
uses might well form the germ of broiling or boiling on the one hand and
of culinary utensils on the other hand. On the whole, the Seri turtle
industry indicates a delicate adjustment of both vital andactivital pro-
cesses to a distinctive environment, in which the abundant chelonian
fauna ranks as a prime factor.

Analogy with other primitive peoples would indicate that the flesh of
the turtle is probably tabu to the Turtle clan, thab the consumption of
the quarry i's preceded by an oblation, and that there are seasonal or
other ceremonial rites connected with turtle-fishing; but no information
has been obtained on any of these points save a few vague and unwill-
ing suggestions from Mash6m tending to establish the analogy.

Plotsain and stolen metal have played a role in the industries of
Seriland so long that it is difficult to learn much of the turtle fishing

J These details were furnished largely by Ma8h6m and Sefior Encinas, but were verified in essentials
by personal observation of dietetic customs at Costa Eica in 1894; and they were corroborated by
observations on both shores of El Infleinillo and Bahia l^unkaak in 1895. Especially significant were
the remnants of a turtle feast on the southern beach of Punta Miguel interrupted by the approach of
the exploring party. The indications were clear that the turtle had been landed and largely consumed
before the flre was kindled, and that the cooking of the firmer portions had hardly been commenced
before the camp was abandoned so hurriedly that not only the nearly eaten turtle and the glowing
embers, but the harpoon (the specimen illustrated in figure 20), the still bloody and greasy hnpf (that
represented in plate Liv), and the fire-sticks were left behind. Grnawed fragments of charred plastrons
are common relics about hastily abandoned camps generally.

190* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.akn.17

during premetal times; but an intimation from Mash6m that the old
men thought it much better to take the turtle with the teeth of an
"animal that goes in the .water", and the similarity in terms for "har-
poon " (or arrow) and " teeth " both suggest that the aboriginal point may
have been a sea-lion tooth, and that the foreshaft itself may have been
a larger tooth of seal or cetacean. While the modern harpoon is shaped
with the aid of metal (hoop-iron, etc.), the forms are quite evidently
vestigial of k-nifeless manufacture, in which a naturally rounded or
abraded or fire-shaped foreshaft was fitted into the natural socket
afforded by a cane stalk broken at its weakest point— i. e., j ust below the
joint; and both function and socket arrangement (as well as the lin-
guistic evidence) strongly suggest the cylindrical tooth as the germ of
the apparatus.

It is probable that water-fowl, considered collectively, stand*second
in importance as Seri prey; and the foremost fowl is undoubtedly the
pelican, which serves not only as a fruitful food- supply but as the chief
source of apparel.

The principal haunt and only known breeding ground of the pelican
in the Gulf of California is Isla Tassne, an integral part of Seriland; and
while the great birds are doubtless taken occasionally in Bahia Kun-
kaak. El Inflernillo, Bahia Tepoka, and other Seri waters, this island
is the principal pelican hunting ground. According to Mash6m's
account, the chase of the pelican here is a well-organized collective
process : at certain seasons, or at least at times deemed propitious by
the shamans, pelican harvests are planned; and after some days of
preparation a large party assemble at a certain convenient point (pre-
sumably Punta Antigualla) and await a still evening in the dark of the
moon. When all conditions are favorable they set out for the island
at late twilight, in order that it may be reached after dark; on ap-
proaching the shore the balsas are left in charge of the women, while
the warriors and the larger boys, armed only with clubs, rush on the
roosting fowls and slaughter them in great numbers — the favorite
coup de grace being a blow on the neck. The butchery is followed by a
gluttonous feast, in which the half- famished families gorge the tenderer
parts in the darkness, and noisily carouse in the carnage until overcome
by slumber. Next day the matrons select the carcasses of least injured
plumage and carefully remove the skins, the requisite incisions being
made! either with the edge of a shell- cup or with a sharp sliver of cane-
stalk taken from an injured arrow or a broken balsa-cane. The feast
holds for several days, or until the last bones are picked and the whole
party sated, when the clans scatter at will, laden with skins and
lethargic from the fortnight's food with which each maw is crammed.

Mash^m's recital gave no indication as to whether the Pelican clan
participate in the hunting orgies, though it clearly implies that the
chase and feast are at least measurably ceremonial in character; and
this implication was strengthened by the interest and comparative

MCGEE] TOLERATION OF THE PELIGA.N 191*

vivacity awakened in the Seri bystanders by their spokesman's frequent
interlocutions with them during the recital. Unfortunately the account
was not clear as to the seasons selected, though the expressions indi-
cated that the feasts are fixed for times at which the young are fully
fledged. It would seem inconceivable that the Seri, with their insa-
tiate appetite for eggs and tender young, should consciously respect a
breeding time or establish a closed season to perpetuate any game; yet
it is probable that the pelican is somehow protected in such wise that
it is not only not exterminated or exiled, but actually fostered and cul-
tivated. It is certain that the mythical Ancient of Pelicans is the
chief creative deity of Seri legend, and its living representative the
chief tutelary of one of the clans; it is certain, too, that this fleshly
fowl, sluggish and defenseless as it is on its sleeping grounds, would
be the easiest source of Seri food if it were hunted indiscriminately;
and it is no less certain that the omnivorous tribesmen would quickly
extinguish the local stock if they were to make its kind, including eggs
and young, their chief diet; yet it survives in literal thousands to
patrol the waters of all Seriland in far-stretching files and vees seldom
out of sight in suitable weather. On the whole, it would seem evident
that an interadjustment has grown up between the tribesmen and their
fish-eating tutelary during the centuries, whereby the fowl is protected,
albeit subconsciously only, during the breeding seasons; and in view
of other characteristics of the tribe it would seem equally evident that
the protection is in some way effected by means of ceremonies and
tabus.

Somewhat analogous, though apparently less ceremonial, expeditions
are made to Isla Patos and other points in search of ducks, and to Isla
San Esteban, and still more distant islands in search of eggs (prefer-
ably near the hatching point) and nestlings ; while the abundant water-
fowl of the region are sought in Eada Ballena and other sheltered bays,
as well as in such landlocked lagoons as those of Punta Miguel and
Punta Arena. This hunting involves the use of bows and arrows,
though the archery of the tribe pertains rather to the chase of larger
land game, and apparently attains its highest development in connec-
tion with warfare. ISTo specialized fowling devices have been observed
among the Seri; and their autonomous recitals, the facies of their arti-
facts, and the observed habits of the tribe (especially the youth) with
respect to birds, all indicate that ordinary fowling holds a subordinate
place in Seri craft — i. e., that it is a fortuitous and emergency avoca-
tion, rather than an organized art like turtle-fishing and water-carrying.
Ooncordantly, culinary processes are not normally employed in connec-
tion with waterfowl, and the customary implements used for incising
the skin and severing other tissues are the shell-cup, which is carried
habitually for other purposes, the cane-splint, which appears to be im-
provised on occasion and never carried habitually, and the ubiquitous
hupf.

192* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ahn.17

Probably second in importance among Seri prey, as a food-soarce
merely, stand the multifarious fishes with which the waters of Seriland
teem, particularly if the class be held to comprise the cetaceans and
seals and selachians ranked as leaders of the flsh fauna in Seri lore.

Naturally, whales lie outside the ordinary range of Seri game, yet
they are not without place in the tribal economy. During the visit to
the Seri raucheria near Costa Eica in 1894, it was noted that various
events — births, deaths, journeys, etc — were referred to " The Time of
the Big Fish"; and it was estimated from apparent ages of children and
the like that this chronologic datum might be correlated roughly with
the year 1887. The era-marking event was memorable to Mash^m, to the
elderwomen of the Turtle clan, and to other mature memborsof the group,
because they had been enabled thereby to dispense with hunting and
fishing for an agreeably long time, and because they had moved their
houses; but the providential occurrence was not interpreted at the time.
On visiting Isla Tiburon in 1895, the interpretation became clear; along
the western, shore of Kada Ballena, near the first sand- spit north of the
bight, lay the larger bones of a whale, estimated from the length of the
mandibles and the dimensions of the vertebrae to have been 75 or 80
feet long. It was evident that the animal had gone into the shoal
water at exceptionally high tide and had stranded during the ebb;
while the condition of the bones suggested an exposure to the weather
of perhaps half a dozen years. On the shrubby bank above the beach,
hard by the bleaching skeleton, stood the new rancheria, the most
extensive seen in Seriland, comprising some fifteen or twenty habit-
able jacales; and fragments of ribs and other huge bones about and
within the huts^ attested transportation thither after the building,
while the shallowness of the trails and the limited trampling of the fog
shrubbery gave an air of freshness to the site and surroundings. The
traditions and the relics together made it manifest that "The Time of
the Big Fish" had indeed marked an epoch in Seri life; that when the
leviathan landed (whether through accident or partly through eiforts
of balsa men) it was quickly recognized as a vast contribution to the
Seri larder; and that some of the clans, if not the entire tribe, gathered
to gorge first flesh and blubber, next sun-softened cartilage and chitiu,^
and then epiphyses and the fatter bones. Some of the ribs were splin-
tered and crushed, evidently by blows of the hupf, in order to give
access to the cancellate interiors; several of the vertebrae were bat-
tered and split, and nearly all of the bones bore marks of hupf blows,
aimed to loosen cartilaginous attachments, start epiphyses, or remove
spongy and greasy processes. Little trace of fire was found; in one
case a mandible was partly scorched, though the burning appeared to
be fortuitous and long subsequent to the removal of the flesh; and a
bit of charred and gnawed epiphysis, much resembling the fragments
of half-cooked turtle plastron scattered over Seriland, was picked up in

1 One of the smaller vertebrae and part of a rib are aliown in the upper figure of plate vi.

MCGEB]

MISCELLANEOUS FISHERIES

193*

one of the huts. The couditioa of the remains and the various indica-
tions connected with the rancheria corroborated the tradition that the
great creature had afforded unlimited and acceptable food for many
moons; and various expressions of the tradition indicated that the
event, though the most memorable of its class, was not unique in Seri
lore.

A few bones and fragments of skin of the seal were found in and
about the rancherias on Isla Tiburon, and an old basket rebottomed
with sealskin was picked up in a recently abandoned jacal on Eada
Ballena; a few bones provisionally identified with the porpoise (which
haunts Boco Inflerno in shoals) were also found amid
the refuse about the old rancheria at the base of the
long sand-spit terminating in Punta Tormenta; but
nothing was learned specifically concerning the chase
and consumption either of these animals or of the abun-
dant sharks from which the island is named.

Among the exceedingly limited food supplies brought
from the coast by the Seri group at Costa Eica in 1894,
were rank remnants of partly desiccated fish, usually
gnawed down to heads and tails; and Mash^m and
others spoke pf fish as a habitual food, while Senor
Bucinas regarded it as the principal element of the
tribal dietary. The harder bones and heavier scales of
several varieties of fish were also found abundantly
among the middens of both mainland and Tiburon
shores in 1895. None of the remains bore noticeable
traces of fire; and all observations, including those of
Senor Encinas, indicate that the smaller varieties of fish
are habitually eaten raw, either fresh or partially dried,
according to the state of appetite at the time of taking —
or the condition of finding when picked up as beach
flotsam. But a single piscatorial device was observed,
i. e., the barbed point and foreshaft, shown in figure 21 —
the iron point being, of course, accultural, and probably
obtained surreptitiously. This harpoon, which measures
6 inches in length over all, is designed for use in con-
nection with the main shaft of a turtle-catching tackle; and it is
evidently intended for the larger varieties, perhaps porpoises or sharks.
In 1827 Hardy observed a related device :

They have a curious weapon which they employ for catching fish. It is a spear
with a double point, forming an angle of about 5°. The insides of these two points,
which are 6 inches long, are jagged, so that when the body of a fish is forced-
between them, it can not get away on account of the teeth. '

Don Andres Noriega, of Costa Eica, described repeatedly and cir-
cum,stantially a method of obtaining fish by aid of pelicans, in which a

Fio. 21— Fiah-
spearbead.

17 BTH-

-13

' Travels, p. 290.

194* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

young or crippled fowl was roped to a shrub or stone, to be fed by his
fellows; when at intervals a youth stole out to rob the captive's pouch.
At first blush this device, would seem to rise above the normal indus-
trial plane of the Seri and to lie within the lower stages of zooculture,
like the cormorant fishing of China if not the hawking of medieval
Europe; yet on the whole it may be deemed fairly consistent with that
cruel yet mutually beneficial toleration between tribesmen and pelicans
attested by the preservation of the avian communal, as already noted.
Moreover, Don Andres observations are in accord with early notes
of the exceedingly primitive aborigines of California, from whom the
Seri have undoubtedly borrowed various cultural suggestions; thus
Venegas quotes Padre Torquemada as saying:

I accidentally found a gull tied with a string and one of his wings broke. Around
this maimed bird lay heaps of excellent pilchards, brought thither by its compan-
ions ; and this, I found, was a stratagem practiced by the Indians to procure them-
selves a dish of fish; for they lie concealed while the gulls bring these charitable
supplies, and when they think that little more is to be expected they seize upon the
contributions.

The padre says also of these gulls that " they have a vast craw,
which in some hangs down like the leather bottles used in Peru for
carrying water, and in it they put their captures to carry them to their
young ones" — from which it is evident that he refers to the pelican.
Venegas adds, " Such are the mysterious ways of Providence for the
support of his creatures!"' And in the margin of his accompanying
" Mapa de la California", he introduces a vigorous picture of a captive
fowl, its free fellow, and the mess of fish, the cut being headed " Alca-
trazes" (pelicans).

Despite these devices, the dearth of fishing-tackle among the Seri is
evidently extreme. Save in the single specimen figured, no piscatorial
apparatus of any sort was found among the squalid but protean pos-
sessions at the Costa Eica rancheria; neither nets nor hooks nor rods
nor lines nor any other device suitable for taking the finny game were
found in the scores of jacales containing other artifacts on Tiburon;
while Seiior Bncina.8 was conversant only with the simple method of
taking fish by hand from the pools and shallows left by receding
breakers or ebbing tides. This dearth of devices is significantly har- ,
monious with other Seri characteristics: it accords with, the leading
place assigned the turtle in their industry and their lore; it is in har-
mony with that primitive and nonmechanical instinct which leads them
to rely on bodily strength and skill and swiftness rather than on extra-
corporeal artifacts in their crude and incomplete conquest of nature;
and it is a manifest expression of relation with their distinctive phys-
ical environment — for the ever-thundering breakers of their gale-swept
coast are abundant, albeit capricious, bringers of living grist, while
the offshore gales at low tide lay bare hundreds of acres of shoaler

'History of California, 1759, vol. i, p. 41.

McuEE] CONSUMPTION OF CLAMS 195*

bottoms literally writhing with fishes stranded among beds of mollusks
and slimy with the aboanding plankton of a fecund coast. The region
is one of ample, albeit lowly, food supply, where every experience tends
toward inert reliance on providential chance, and where the stimulus
of consistently conscious necessity seldom stirs the inventive faculty.

Closely connected with fish as a Seri food-source are the various
molluscan and crustacean forms collectively called shellfish ; and these
contribute a considerable share of the sustenance of the tribe.

Apparently the most important constituent of this class of foods is
the Pacific coast clam, which abounds m the broad mud-flats border-
ing Laguna La Oruz and other lagoons of Seriland, and which was still
more abundant during a subrecent geologic epoch, to judge from the
immense accumulation of the shells in Punta Antigualla. The clams
are usually taken at low tide, without specialized apparatus. They are
located by feeling with the feet in shallow water, and caught either
with toes or with fingers, to be tossed into any convenient receptacle.
When the water is entirely withdrawn from the flats, they are located
by means of their holes, and are extricated either with a shell-cup or
with some other improvised implement. Frequently the entire mess is
thrown into a fire until the shells open, when they are withdrawn and
the mollusks devoured practically raw; perhaps more commonly the
shells are opened by blows of the hupf, and eaten without semblance
of cooking; and, except on the surface, no trace of roasting was found
among the vast accumulations of shells in Punta Antigualla.

Perhaps second to the clam in frequency of use is the local oyster,
which abounds about the more sheltered shores of Tiburon. It is gath-
ered with the hands, aided perhaps by a stone or stick for dislodging
the shells either from the extended offshore beds at extreme low water,
or from the roots of a mangrove like shrub at a medium stage. The
shells, like those of the clam, are frequently opened' by partial roast-
ing ; and shells, sometimes scorched, are extensively scattered over the
interior, indicating that the oyster is a favorite portable food. The
popularity of this bivalve is shared by the Noah's-ark {Area), to which
some mystical significance is apparently ascribed; and the abundant
limpets and bivalves and other mollusks are eaten indiscriminately, to
judge from the abundance of their shells in the middens. The ordi-
nary crab, too, is a favorite article of food, and its claws are numerous
in camp and house refuse; while the lobster- like deep-water crab is
introduced into the menu whenever brought to the surface by storms,
as shown by its massive remains in the middens.

On the whole, shellfish form a conspicuous factor in Seri economy
by reason of the considerable consumption of this class of food ; but,
viewed in the broader industrial aspect, the produce is notably primi-
tive, and significant chiefly as indicating the dearth of mechanical and
culinary devices.

196* THE SERI INDIANS [bth.an».17

While by far the larger share of Seri sustenance is drawn from the
sea, a not inconsiderable portion is derived from the land; for the war-
riors and striplings and even the women are more skilful hunters than
fishers.

The larger objects of the feral chase are deer of two or three species
(the bura, or nmledeer, being most conspicuous and easiest taken),
antelope, and mountain sheep; to which the puma, the jaguar, and
perhaps two or three other carnivores might be added. The conven-
tional method of taking the bura and other deer is a combination, of
stalking and coursing, usually conducted by five of the younger war-
riors, though three or four may serve in emergency ; any excess over
five being regarded as superfluous, or as a confession of inferiority. The
chase is conducted in a distinctly ceremonial and probably ritualistic
fashion, even when the finding of the game is casual, or incidental to
a journey: at sight of the quarry, the five huntsmen scatter stealthily
in such manner as partially to surround it; when it takes fright one
after the other strives to show himself above the shrubbery or dunes
in order to break its line of flight into a series of zigzags; and whether
successful in this effort or not they keep approximate pace with it un-
til it tires, then gradually surround it, and finally rush in to either
seize it in their hands or cripple it with clubs — though the latter pro-
cedure is deemed undignified, if not wrong, and hardly less disrep-
utable than complete failure. When practicable the course is laid
toward the rancheria or camp; and in any event the ideal finish is to
bring the animal alive into the family group, where it may be dissected
by the women, and where the weaklings may receive due share of the
much-prized blood and entrails. The dissection is merely a ravenous
rending of skin and flesh, primarily with the teeth (perhaps after
oblique bruising or tearing by blows with the hupf over strongly flexed
joints), largely with hands and fingers. aided" anon by a foot planted on
the carcass, and partly with some improvised device, such as a horn or
tooth of the victim itself, the serrated edge of a shell-cup, or perhaps
a sharp-edged cane-splint from a broken arrow carried for emergency's
sake. Commonly the entire animal, save skin and harder bones, is
gulped at a sitting in which the zeal of the devotee and the frenzy of
the carnivore blend; but in case the group is small and the quarry*
large, the sittingis extended by naps or prolonged slumberings, and
the more energetic squaws may even trouble to kindle a fire and par-
tially cook the larger joints, thereby inciting palled appetite to new
eftbrts. Finally the leg bones are split for the marrow and their ends
preserved for awls; the horns are retained by the successful huntsmen
as talisman-trophies; while the skin is stretched in the desert sun,
scratched and gnawed free of superfluous tissue, rubbed into partial
pliability, and kept for bedding or robe or kilt.

The chase of the hare is closely parallel to that of the deer save that
it is conducted by striplings, who thereby serve apprenticeship in hunt-

MOGEB] CUSTOMARY HUNTING CUSTOMS 197*

ing and at the same time enrich the tribal larder with a game beneath
the dignity of the warriors; while still smaller boys similarly chase the
rabbit, which is commonly scorned by the striplings. The conventional
hare-hunting party is three, and it is deemed disreputable to increase
this number greatly. The youths spread at sight of the game and seek
to surround it, taking ingenious and constant advantage of the habit
of the hare to run obliquely or in zigzags to survey more readily the
source of its fright; for some time they startle it but slightly by suc-
cessive appearances at a distance, but gradually increase its harass-
ment until it bounds hither and thither in terror, when they rapidly
close in and seize it, the entire chase commonly lasting but a few min-
utes. The quarry is customarily taken alive to camp, where it is quickly
rent to fragments and the entrails and flesh and most of the bones con-
sumed; the skin usually passes into possession of a matron for use as
infantile clothing or cradle bedding, while the ears are kept by the
youth who first seized the game until his feat is eclipsed by some other
event — unless chance hunger sooner tempts him to transmute his trophy
into pottage.

While the collective, semiceremonial style of chase alone is thor-
oughly good form in Seri custom, it is often rendered impracticable by
the scattering of the tribe in separate families or small bands, in which
case the bura and its associates, like the larger carnivores customarily,
are taken by strategy rather than by strength. This form of chase is
largely individual; in it archerj' plays a leading rdle; and in it, too,
ambuscade, stealthy lying in wait, and covert assault attain high devel-
opment. It is closely analogous with the warfare typical of the tribe;
and it is especially noteworthy as one of the most effective stimuli to
intellectual activity, and hence to the development of invention — if the
term may be applied to industrial products so lo^ly as those of the
Seri.

The chief artifact produced by the strategic chase on land would
seem to be the analogue of the harpoon used at sea, i. e., the arrow.
This weapon is one of the three or four most highly differentiated and
thoroughly perfected of the Seri artifacts, ranking with canteen-olla
and balsa, and perhaps outranking the turtle-harpoon. It is fabricated
with great care and high skill, and with striking uniformity in details
of material and construction. A typical example is 25 inches in length
and consists of three pieces — point, foreshaft, and main shaft (feathered
toward the nock). The foreshaft is 8J inches long, of hard wood care-
fully ground by rubbing with quartzite or pumice into cylindrical form,
about three-eighths of an inch in diameter at the larger end and taper-
ing slightly toward the point; the larger end is extended by careful
grinding into a tang which is fitted into the main shaft, the joint being
neatly wrapped with sinew. This main shaft is a cane-stalk {Phrag-
mites communis'^) 15 or 16 inches long, carefully selected for size and
well straightened and smoothed ; it is feathered with three equidistantly-

198* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.it

placed wing-feathers of hawk or falcon, neatly prepared by removing
a thin strip of the rachis bearing the wider vexillum and attaching it
by sinew wrappings at both ends, the feathers being about 5^ inches
in length. The nock is a simple rounded notch, placed just below a
joint and supported by the sinew ferrule; there is no foot-plug. The
favorite point is a bit of flotsam hoop-iron, ground into elongate
triangular shape with projecting barbs, and a short tang or shank
fitted into a shallow notch in the foreshaft, cemented there with mes-
quite gum, and finally fixed firmly with sinew wrappings. A typical
iron-point arrow, with bow and quiver, is depicted in plate xxx. Alter-
native points are of rudely chipped stone (two examples are illustra-
ted in figure 37) somewhat clumsily attached to the foreshaft by
mesquite gum and sinew wrapping; while the arrows used by boys
and hunters of small game are usually pointless, the tip of the fore-
shaft being sharpened and hardened by slight charring. In some of
the arrows, especially those designed for use in war, the foreshaft is
notched, or else loosely attached to the main shaft, in order that it may
be detached from the main shaft and remain in the body of enemy
or prey. The foreshaft is commonly painted some bright color (red is
prevalent), while the points and attachments of the "poisoned" speci-
mens are smeared with some greasy substance.

The aboriginal Seri arrow has undoubtedly been modified during the
centuries since the coming of Oort6s and Mendoza with their metal-
armed troopers ; yet certain inferences as to the indigenous form ot the
weapon are easily drawn from its construction and the homologies of
its parts.

The first feature of the artifact to attract attention is the relative
clumsiness of attachment and frequent absence of points. The chipped-
stone points are so rude as to be quite out of harmony with the other-
wise delicately wrought and graceful arrow, "while the attachment is
strikingly rude; and it is still more noteworthy that the very name for
stone arrowpoint was little understood at Costa Rica, and was obtained
only after extended inquiry and repeated conferences among the older
informants. Even the attachment of the effective points made from
hoop-iron is bad coustructionally; the sinew wrapping is carried""
around the entire blade in such manner as to sheathe the sharply
ground edges and itself be cut on contact with firm tissue; and the
fitting and wrapping are so rude as to be incongruous with the rest
of the apparatus. On the whole the suggestion is strong that the
arrowpoint is accultural — and this suggestion is further strengthened
by the very existence of the practically functionless, and hence mani-
festly vestigial, hard-wood foreshaft. Turning to the structural homol-
ogies, the observer is at once struck with the parallelism running
through the three most conspicuous compound artifacts found among
the Seri, i. e., the harpoon, the fire-drill, and the arrow. All of these
alike consist of two essential parts, main shaft and foreshaft; all are

MCGEE] GENESIS OF THE ARROW 199*

akin in function even in the superficial view of the Caucasian, and are
much more closely related in primitive thought — indeed the fire-drill is
but a featherless and nockless arrow, with the foreshaft charred at its
fire-giving tip; and all are closely linked iu language and allied with
other terms in such wise as practically to establish identity among them
in the thinking of their lowly makers (though unfortunately the incom-
plete vocabularies extant are insuf&cient for full study of the linguistic
homologies). Briefly the indications are that the harpoon was the pri-
mary device, and that its foreshaft was a tooth of an aquatic fish-eater
like the seal, or perchance in some cases an os penis; that its lineal suc-
cessor was a loose-head lance for use on sea and land, at first with the
unaided hand and later with the atlatl, or throwing-stick (the lance
beiug now extinct, though recorded by early visitors to Seriland) ; that
the next artifact- generation in the direct line wag represented by the
arrow, foreshafted with hard wood or tooth, made light and graceful
and loose-headed or not, according to needs, and by the substitution of
bow for atlatl ; and that a somewhat aberrant line was marked by the
taming of fire, its reproduction by the modified arrow, and the differ-
entiation of fire-stick from arrow and either atlatl or bow.

In tracing these stages in technologic growth, it is to be remembered
that the Seri are so primitive as to betray some of the very beginnings
of activital concepts; that to them zoic potencies are the paramount
powers of the cosmos; that in their simple thought fire is a bestial
rather than a physical phenomenon ; that in their naive philosophy the
production of devouring flame is of a kind with vital birth and a simil-
itude of sexual reproduction ; and that according to their notions the
conquest of quarry, including fire, is made practicable only by aid of
the mystical potencies of beasts and flames gained through invocatory
use of symbols or actual organs.

In the Seri tongue the term ''fire-drill" is Tcaak, an indefinite generic
meaning "kind" or "strong kind", with an egocentric connotation
("Our-Strong-Kind"), as in the proper tribal designation Kun-TcaaTc or
Km-Jcaak; while the term for the nether fire-stick or hearth is either
maani ("woman", or more properly "mother"), or else (and more com-
monly) TcaaTc-maam, which may berendered " Kind- Mother" — the " Kind",
as among primitive folk generally, comprising both men and tutelary
beasts, and in this case fire as the most mysterious of the beasts; there
is thus a suggestive analogy between the designation for the fire-pro-
ducing apparatus and that for the tribe itself. It should be noted that
the zoic concept of fire is widespread among the more primitive peoples
of various provinces, and sometimes persists in recognizable form in
higher culture (witness the fire-breathing dragons of various mytholo-
gies, the "Eed Flower" notion gathered in India by Kipling, etc); also
that the ascription of sex to the fire sticks is prevalent among N^orth
American tribes, and at once helps to interpret the development of the
fire-drill, fire-syringe, and other primitive devices, such, for example, as

200* THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

those so fully described by Hough/ smd serves to explain the otherwise
obscure genesis of the fire-sense, which must have accompanied and
shaped that most significant of all steps in human progress, the con-
quest of fire.

The modern coordinate of the Seri arrow is the bow, made prefer-
ably from a straight and slender branch of the palo bianco. A typical
specimen is illustrated in plate xxx; it is 4 feet 9J inches long, with
the outer face convex and the inner face flat; greatest width 1^ inches,
narrowed to 1^ inches at the hand-hold; thickness at the hand-hold 1
inch, thinning to five-eighths inch at 8 inches from this point; tapering
gradually in both dimensions toward the extremities, which are rudely
notched to receive the cord (of mesquite-root fiber). The specimen
illustrated has been cracked and repaired in two places; in one place
the repair was effected by a rough wrapping of sinew, and in the other
by slipping over the wood a natural sheath of rawhide from the leg of
a deer. The specimen is of added interest in that it combines bow
and nether fire-stick ("Strong-Kind-Mother"), one of the friction holes
being worn out to the notched margin, and the other remaining in
usable condition, as shown in the enlarged marginal drawing.^

Compared with the delicately finished and graceful arrow, the typ-
ical bow is a rude and clumsy device; it displays little skill in the
selection and shaping of material, and evidently involves little labor
in manufacture — indeed, the indications are that more actual labor is
spent in the construction of a single arrow than in the making of a
bow, while the arrow-making is expert work, betokening craft of a high
order, and the bow-making little more than simple handiwork of the
lowest order. The comparison affords some indication of the genesis
of Seri archery, and at the same time corroborates the independent
suggestion that the arrow is of so much greater antiquity than the
bow as to represent a distinct stage in cultural development —though
the precise cultural significance of the bow is not easily ascertained.

Efforts were made to have different Seri warriors at Costa Eica in 1894
assume the normal archery attitude, with but moderate success, the
best pose obtained (illustrated in plate xxviii) being manifestly unnat-
ural and a mere reflection of the attitude in the mind of the Caucasian
poser; while the results of inquiries seryed only to indicate that the
normal archery attitude was purposely avoided for reasons not ascer-
tained. Portupately another observer was more successful: in the
course of the United States hydographic surveys in 1873, Commander
(now Admiral) Dewey received several visits from Seri warriors on
board the Narragansett; and on the occasion of one of these visits, Mr
Hector von Bayer, of the hydrographic party, caught a photograph of
an archer in the act of drawing his bow. The negative was accident-

■rire-making apparatus in the U. S. National Museum; Smithsonian Report for 188S, pt ii, 1890,
pp. 531-587, and elsevliere.

* Ordinarily the nether fire-stick is of soft and porous wood, flotsam palm- wood and water-logged
pine heing preferred.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXVIII

SERI ARCHER AT REST

MCGEE] MEANING OF ARCHERY POSTURE 201*

ally shattered, and no prints are known to have been made from it;
but the fragments were carefully joined, and were kindly transferred
to the Bureau by Mr Von Bayer in 1897, and' from them plate xxix
was carefully drawn. The posture (partly concealed by the drapery) is
extraordinary, being quite beyond the reaCh of the average human, and
impossible of maintenance for any considerable interval even by the
well-wonted Seri. The posture itself partly explains the diflflculty of
inducing the warriors at Oosta Rica to assume it, since it is essentially a
fleeting one, and indeed but a part of a continuous and stressful action —
it is no less difficult to assume, or to catch in the camera, than the typical
attitude of a baseball pitcher in action. The posture thus fortunately
caught is quite in accord with the accounts of Seri archery from the
esoteric side given by Mash^m, and with the esoteric observations of
Senor Bncinas, Don Andres, and others; for all accounts agree in indi-
cating that the archer commonly rests inert and moveless as the watch-
ing feline up to a critical instant, then springs into movement as swiftly
as the leaping jaguar, and hurls, rather than shoots, one, two, or three
arrows before rushing in to the death or skulking to cover as the issue
may require.

The Seri archery habit is in every way consistent with the general
habits of the tribe, alike in the chase and in warfare, in which the tribes-
men, actuated by the fierce blood-craze common to carnivores, either
leap on their prey with purpling eyes and gnashing teeth, or beat
quick and stealthy retreat; and it is especially significant in the light
thrown on the bow as a device for swift and vigorous rather than accu-
rate offense, an apparatus for lengthening the arm still more than does
the harpoon, and at the same time strengthening and intensifying its
stroke. The quick-changing attitudes of half hurling are equally sug-
gestive of the use of the atlatl, and support Oushing's hypothesis^
that the bow was derived from the corded throwing- stick. While the
critical posture of Seri archery is unique in degree if not in kind in
the western hemisphere, so far as is known, an approximation to it
(illustrated in fig. 22) has been observed in Central Africa.'* On the
whole the Seri mode of using the bow, like its crude form and rude
finish, indicates that it is a relatively new and ill-developed artifact,
possibly accultural though more probably joined indigenously with the
archaic arrow to beget a highly effective device for food-getting as
well as for warfare; while the genetic stages are still displayed not only
in the homologies between arrow and harpoon, but by the common
functions of both arrow and bow with the fire-sticks.

Goncordantly, as indicated by the use of the archery apparatus, the
individual taking of large game is effected either by stealthy stalking
or by patient ambuscade ended by a sudden rush ; when, if the chase is
successful, the quarry is rent and consumed as at the finish of the

' The Arrow; Proceedings Api. Asa. Adv. Sol., vol. XLiv, 1895, pp. 232-240.

"Glave's Journey to the Livingston Tree, The Century Magazine, vol. ui, 1896, p. 768.

202*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

semiceremonial collective chase. The fleet but wary autelope, the pug-
nacious peccary, the wandering puma and jaguar, and the mountain
sheep of the rocky fastnesses, are among the favorite objects of this
style of chase; while the larger land birds and some of the water- fowl
are taken in similar fashion.'
The smaller land game comprises a tortoise or two, all the local

Fia. 22— African archery posture.

snakes and lizards, and a good many insects, besides various birds,
including hawks and owls, as well as the eaters of seeds and insects.
The crow and vulture are also classed as edible, though they are rare
in Seriland, probably because of the effective scavengering of the
province by its human residents. It is a •significant fact that the

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOQy

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXIX

SERI ARCHER AT ATTENTION

MOBEi] THE TABU SQUIRREL 203*

smaller rodents, especially the long-tail nocturnal squirrel, are
excluded from the Seri menu by a rigidly observed tabu of undiscov-
ered meaning. A general consequence of this tabu is readily observed
on entering Seriland; there is a notable rarity of the serpents, the
high-colored and swift efts, and the logy lizards and dull phrynosomas
so abundant in neighboring deserts, as well as of song birds and their
nests; and this dearth is coupled with a still more notable abundance
of the rodents, which have increased and multiplied throughout Seri-
land so abundantly that their burrows honeycomb hundreds of square
miles of territory. A special consequence of the tabu is found in the
fact that the myriad squirrel tunnels have rendered much of the terri-
tory impassable for horses and nearly so for pedestrians, and have
thereby served to repel invaders and enable the jealous tribesmen to
protect their principality against the hated alien. Seriland and the
Seri are remarkable for illustrations of the interdependence between a
primitive folk and their environment; but none of the relations are
more striking than that exemplified by the timid nocturnal rodent,
which, protected by a faith, has not only risen to the leading place in
the local fauna, but has rewarded its protectors by protecting their ter-
ritory for centuries.

In both the collective and the strategic chase, constant advantage is
taken of weakness and incapacity, whether temporary or permanent,
of the prospective quarry; so that diseased and wounded as well as
sluggish and stupid animals are eliminated. The effect of this policy
on the fauna is undoubtedly to extinguish the less capable species and
to stimulate and improve the more capable; i. e., the presence of the
human factor merely intensifies the bitter struggle for existence in
which the subhuman things of this desert province are engaged. At
the same time, the entrance of the human folk into the struggle char-
acteristic of subhuman species serves to bar them from one of the most
helpful ways to the advancement of their kind — i. e., the way leading
through cotoleration with animals to perfected zooculture. The most
avidly sought weaklings in the Seri chase are the helpless. young, and
the heavily gravid dams which are pursued and rent to fragments with
a horrid fury doubtless reflecting the practical certainty of capture
and the exceptionally succulent tidbits aflbrded by the fetal flesh;
naturally the cruel custom reacts on habitual thought in such wise that
the very sight of pregnancy or travail or newborn helplessness awakens
slumbering blood-thirst and impels to ferocious slaughter. To such
.custom and deep-planted mental habit may be ascribed some of the
most shocking barbarities in the history of Seri rapine, tragedies to'o
terrible for repetition save in bated breath of survivors, yet explaining
the utter horror in which the Seri marauder is held on his own frontier.
At the same time the hunting custom and the mental habit explain the
blindness of the Seri to the rudiments of zooculture, and clarify their
intolerance of aW animal associates, save the sly coyote that habitually

204* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

hides its travail and suckling in the wilderness, and perhaps the deified
pelican,'

Parallel to the chase of the larger land game is the hunting of horses
and other imported stock; for the animals are regarded in no other
light than that of easy quarry. The horses of the Seri frontier, like
those of wild ranges generally, are strongly gregarious, and the herds
are well regimented under recognized leaders, so that the chase of
their kind is necessarily collective on the part of both hunters and
game; and the favorite method is for a considerable group of either
warriors or women to surround the entire herd, or a band cut out from
it, "mill" them (i. e., set them running in a gradually contracting
circle) and occasionally dash on an animal, promising by reason of
exceptional fatness or gravidness. The warrior's customary clutch is by
the mane or foretop with one hand and the muzzle with the other, with
his weight thrown largely on the neck, when a quick wrench throws
the animal, and, if all goes well, breaks its neck;^ while the huntress
commonly aims to stun the animal with a blow from her hupf. In
either case the disposition of the carcass is similar to that of other
large quarry, save that thought is given to the danger of ensuing attack
by vaqueros ; so that it is customary to consume at onceonly the blood and
pluck, and if time permits the paunch and intestines with their contents,
and then to rend the remainder into quarters, which warriors or even
women shoulder and rush toward their stronghold. Burros (which,
next to the green turtle, afford the favorite Seri food) and horned cattle
are commonly stalked and slain, or, at least, wounded with arrows, so
that it is commonly the stragglers that are picked off; though some-
times several animals are either milled or rushed, and thrown by a

> A single incident expressing the Seri sentiment toward travailing animals must bo noted : a few
minutes after tlie group shown in plate xi was photographed, a starveling cur— a female apparently
of nearly pure coyote blood and within a week of term — slunk toward the broken oUa-kettle in the
left center of the picture, in which a rank horse-foot was simmering; the woman bending over the ket-
tle suddenly straightened and shot out her foot with such force and directness that the cur was lifted
entirely over the corner of the nearest jaoal, and the poor beast fell stunned and moaning, a prematurely
bom pup protruding from her two-thirds of its length. The sound of the stroke and fall attracted
attention throughout the group ; the women smiled and grunted approval of the well-aimed kick, and a
dozen children gathered to continue the assault. Partially recovering, the cur struggled to its feet, and
started for the chapparal, followed by the jeering throng ; at first the chase seemed sportive only,,but
suddenly one of the smaller boys (the third from the left in the group shown in plate xvi) took on a
new aspect — his figure stifi'ened, his jaws set, his eyes shot purple and green, and he plunged into the
lead, and just before the harried beast reached cover he seized the protruding embryo, jerked it away,
and ran off in triumph. Three minutes afterward he was seen in the shelter of a jacal greedily
gorging his spoil in successive bites, just as the Caucasian boy devours a peeled banana. Meanwhile,
two or three mates who had struck his trail stood around begging bites and sucking at chance blood
spatters on earth, skin, or tattered rags; and as the victor came forth later, licking his chops, he was
vfei by half jocular but admiring plaudits for his prowess from the dozen matrons lounging abontthe'
neighboring jacales. Parallel instances, both observed and gathered at second hand, might be added
in numbers; bat this may suffice as the sole specific basis for the generalization which places the
Seri below the plane of possible zooculture — a generalization so broad as to demand some record of
data which it would be more agreeable to ignore.

^This warrior's clutch, and the notion that it is discreditable if not criminal for the masculine
adult to take recourse to weapons in hand-to-hand slajighter, are strongly suggestive of zoomimic
motives and of studied mimicry of the larger carnivores, such as the jaguar— the " neck-twister " of
the Maya.

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXX

SERI BOW, ARROW, AND QUIVER

TAKING OF LARGER GAME

205*

strong wrench on the horns or stunned with a blow of war-club or hupf,
as conditions may demand. Straggling swine and wandering dogs are
occasionally ambushed or stalked and transfixed with arrows, torn
hurriedly into fragments, or shouldered and carried off struggling, as
exigency may require ; while sheep and goats are practically barred
from the entire Seri frontier because of their utter helplessness in the
face of so hardy huntsmen.

The quantity of stock consumed by the Seri varies greatly with the
policy of rancheros and vaqueros. At different times during the last
two and a half centuries it has been estimated that the chief portion
of the subsistence of the tribe was derived from stolen stock, and it
is probable that during the early period of the Encinas regime this

Pig. 23— Desiccated pork.

estimate was fair ; but under the Draconian rule of a Seri head for each
head of slaughtered stock, the consumption is reduced to a few dozen
head annually, including superannuated, crippled, and diseased ani-
mals unable to keep up with the herds, those bogged in Play a Noriega
and other basins during freshets, the stallions and bulls slain in strife
for leadership of their bands, and the festering or semimummied car-
casses gladly turned over by idle rancheros on the chance visits of
Seri bands to the frontier (such as the specimen in the protograph
reproduced in figure 23).

No special devices have been developed in connection with the chase
for stock, nor has material progress been made in acquiring Cau-
casian devices. There are, indeed, indications of a disposition to use

206* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

knives in severing the tough integuments and tendons of horses and
kine, although the tendency has not yet resulted (as elsewhere noted,
ante, pp. 152-154) in the development of a knife- sense; and although
boys on the frontier play at roping dogs, no effort to use the riata or
any form of rope is made in the actual chase. As naively explained
by Mash^m amid approving grunts from his clan-mates, they have no
time for ropes or knives when hungry.

A quantitatively unimportant yet by no means negligible fraction
of the normal diet of Seriland is vegetal; and while the sources of
vegetal food are many and diverse, the chief constituent is a single
product characteristic of American deserts, viz, the tuna, or prickly
pear.

All of the cacti of the region yield tunas in considerable quantity.
The pitahaya is perhaps the most abundant producer, and its name is
often given to the fruit; the huge saguaro affords an enormous annual
yield, and the still more gigantic saguesa is even more prolific, espe-
cially in its immense forests along the eastern base of Sierra Seri; the
cina adds materially to the aggregate product, while the nopal, or
common prickly pear, contributes a quota acquiring importance from
the facility with which it may be harvested. The fruits of all these
cacti are sometimes classed as sweet tunas, in contradistinction from
the sour tunas yielded in great abundance by the cholla and consumed
with avidity by stock, though seldom eaten by men. The edible tunas
average about the size of lemons, and resemble figs save that their skin
is beset with prickles. The portion eaten is a luscious pulp, filled with
minute seeds like those of the fig save that they are too hard for mas-
tication or digestion, its fl.avor ranging from the sickly sweet of the
overcultivated fig to a pleasant acidity. While occasional tunas may
be found at any time during the year, the normal harvest occurs about
midsummer, or shortly before the July- August humid season, and lasts
for several weeks. During the height of the season the clans with-
draw from the coast and give undivided attention to the collection and
consumption of the fruits, gorging them in such quantities that, accord-
ing to the testimony of the vaqueros, they are fattened beyond recog-
nition . Commonly the tunas are eaten j ust as they are gathered, and the
families and larger bands move about from pitahaya to pitahaya and
from valley to valley in a slovenly chase of^this natural harvest, until
waning supply and cloying appetite drive them back to the severer chase
of turtle and pelican. The fruit is not cooked, and never preserved save
in the noisome way of nature, and is rarely transported in quantities
or over distances of industrial importance; yet the product may have
some connection with the basketry of the tribe. The devices for col-
lecting the fruits, especially from the lofty saguaro and saguesa, are
mere improvisations of harpoon shafts, paloblanco branches, or chance
cane-stalks carried primarily for arrow-making or balsa construction.

MCGEE] THE CACTUS HARVEST 207*

There is no sucli well-studied and semiceremonial apparatus for tuna
gathering as, for example, the Papago device made from the ribs of
the dead saguaro in accordance with traditional formula.

Perhaps second in importance among the vegetal constituents of
Seri diet is the mesquite bean, which is gathered in random fashion
whenever a well-loaded tree is found and other conditions favor. The
woody beans and still woodier pods are roughly pulverized by pound-
ing with the hupf on any convenient stone used as an ahst (metate or
mortar), or, if suitable stones are not at hand, they are carried in
baskets or improvised bags to the nearest shore or other place at which
stones may be found. The half-ground grist is winnowed in the ordi-
nary way of tossing in a basket; and the grinding and winnowing con-
tinue alternately until a fairly uniform bean meal is obtained. So far
as was actually observed this is eaten raw, either dry in small pinches
or, more commonly, stirred in water to form a thin atole; but expres-
sions at Costa Eica indicated that the meal is sometimes stirred in
boiling water or pot-liquor, and thus partially cooked, in times of rest
and plenty.

Other vegetal products used as food comprise a variety of seeds col-
lected from sedges and grasses growing about the mud-flats of Laguna
La Cruz and other portions of the province, as well as the seeds and
nuts of the scant shrubbery of shores and mountains; while a local
seaweed or kelp is eaten in small quantity, apparently as a condiment,
and is sometimes carried on journeys even as far as Costa Eica, where
specimens were obtained in 1894.

It is of interest to note that one of the most distinctive constituents
of the Sonoran flora, and one intimately connected with human life in
the great neighboring province of Papagueria, is of negligible rarity
in Seriland; this is the visnaga (Echinocactus, probably of two or
three species), the thorniest of the cacti and the only one containing
consumable pulp and sap. This peculiar plant is of no small interest
in itself as a striking example of the inverse relation between pro-
tective devices of chemical sort (culminating in acrid, offensive, or
toxic juices) and the mechanical armaments so characteristic of desert
plants ; ' it is of still deeper interest economically as the sole source of
water over broad expanses of the desert, and one to which hundreds of
pioneers and travelers have been indebted for their lives; and it is
of interest, too, as a factor of Papago faith, in which the visnaga ranks
among the richer guerdons of the rain gods. Throughout most of Papa-
gueria this cactus is fairly abundant; usually there are several speci-
mens to the square mile of suitable soil (it is not found in playas or on
the ruggeder sierras), so that it is always within reach of the sagacious
traveler; but it diminishes in abundance toward the borders of Seri-
land, and not more than a dozen examples were found in the portions of
that province traversed by the 1895 e^edition. Its rare occurrence,

* Cf. The Beginning of Agriculture; The American Anthropologist, vol. viil, Oct., 1895, pp. 350-375.

208*

THE SEEI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

chiefly in the form of wounded and dwarfed specimens, seems to indi-
cate that its original range comprised ail Seriland; while its dearth
suggests destruction nearly to the verge of extinction by improvident
generations better armed with their hupfs and harpoons and shell-cups
than the subhuman beasts against whom the plant is so well protected.

Aside from the universally used hupf and ahst (which may be
regarded as differentiated implements or tools), the only special device
used in connection with vegetal food is the basket, or, rather, basketry
tray (illustrated in figure 24). This ware is of the widespread coll type
so characteristic of southwestern tribes. The coil is a wisp of stems
and splints of a fibrous yet spongy shrub, apparently torote; and the
woof consists of paloblanco (?) splints deftly intertwined by aid of an
awl. The construction is fairly neat and remarkably uniform; the

Fig. 24— Seri basket.

coiled wisps vary somewhat in size, both intentionally and inadvert-
ently, ranging from an average of three-eighths of an inch toward the
bottoms of the larger specimens to half that diameter in the smaller
specimens and toward the margins of the larger. The initial coil
starts in an indefinite knot, rather than a button, at the center; and the»
spiral is continuous throughout, the final coil being quite deftly worked
out to a single splint smoothly stitched to the next lower spiral with the
woof splints. The ware is practically water-tight, remarkably strong
and resilient, and quite durable in the dry climate of Seriland. Ordi-
narily the basket is abandoned when the bottom decays or breaks, but
an ancient specimen obtained on Isla Tiburon was roughly rebottomed
with a patch of sealskin attached by means of sinew. The baskets
are notably uniform in shape, though the size varies from 8 or 9 inches
to fully 17 inches in diameter. -
The most striking feature of the Seri basketry, as of the pottery, is

MCGEB]

LIGHTNESS OF THE BASKETRY

209*

extreme lightness in proportion to capacity, a quality due to the spongy
character of the torote coil and to the thinness of the splints used in the
woof. The inside dimensions, weight, and dry-measure capacity (filled
to the level of the brim with rice) of two typical specimens approach-
ing extremes in size are indicated in the accompanying table. As
noted elsewhere, the ware is absolutely without decorative devices
in weave, paint, or form; it is baldly utilitarian, a model of ecouomy
in material and in the balance between structure and function, approach-
ing in this respect the thin-walled cauteen-oUa, the graceful balsa, and
the light but effective harpoon. The structural correspondence of the
ware to a widespread type and its limited use among the tribe suggest
an accultural origin for the Seri basketry; but the delicate adjustment
of means to ends in the manufacture and the strictly local character
of the material quite as strongly suggest an indigenous development.

Museum No.

Biameter

Depth

Weight i Capa<!ity !

i 1

174528....
174528a ..

38 cm. (15 in.)
23om.( 9 in.)

9.5cm.(3iin.)
5.0cm.(2 in.)

482g.(17oz.)
142 g.( 5oz.)

6.25 1.(6.6 qt.)
1 l.(1.06qt.)

It is impossible to portray justly the food habits of the Seri without
some reference to a systematic scatophagy, which seems to possess
fiducial as well as economic features. In its simplest aspect this custom
is connected with the tuna harvests; the fruits are eaten in enormous
quantity, and are imperfectly digested, the hard-coated seeds especially
passing through the system unchanged ; the feces containing these seeds
are preserved with some care, and after the harvest is passed the hoard
(desiccated, of course, in the dry climate) is ground between hupf and
ahst, and winnowed in baskets precisely as are the mesquite beans; and
the product is then eaten either dry or in the form of atole like the
mesquite meal. In superficial view this food factor is the precise homo-
logue of the "second harvest" of the California Indians as described
by Clavigero, Baegert,' and others; but it gains importance, among

1 An Account of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Californian Peninsula, as given by Jacob Baegert,
a G-erman Jesuit missionary. . . Translated and arranged for the Smithsonian Institution by
Charles Eau; Ann. Rep. Smithsonian Inst, for 1863, pp. 352-369. Baegert's account of foods (pp. 363-
367) is so apposite as to be worthy of quotation nearlyentire:

"Nofwithatandlng tbebarrenne-s of tlie country, a Califoniian hardly ever dies of hunger, except,
perhaps, now ancl then an individual that falls sick in the wilderness and at a great distance from the
mission, for those who are in good health trouble themselves very Uttle about such patients, even if
these should happen tu be their husbands, wives, or other relations ; and a little child that lias lost its
mother or both parents is al»o occasionally in danger of starving to deatli, because in some instances no
one will take charge of it, the father being sometimes inhuman enough to abandon his offspring to its
fate.

"The food of the Californiana, as will be seen, is certainly of a mean quality, yet it keeps them in a
healthy condition, and they become strong and grow old in spite of their pgor diet. The only period
of the year during which the Californians can satisfy their appetite without restraint is the season of
the pitahayas, which ripen in the middle of June and abound for more than eight weeks. The gather-
ing of this fruit may be considered as the harvest of the native inhabitants. They can eat as much of
it as they please, and with some this food agrees so well that they become corpulent during that period ;
and for this reason I was sometimes unable to recognize at first sight individuals, otherwise perfectly
17 ETH 14

210* THE SERl INDIANS [eth.ann.IT

tlie Seri at least, as the sole method of storing or preserviug food-
supplies, and hence as the germ of Industrial economy out of which a

familiar to rae, wlio visited me after having fed for three or four weeks on these pitahayas. They do
not, however, preserve them, and when theseason is over they are putagain on shortrations. Among
the roots eaten by the Californiaus may be mentioned the yuka, which constitutes an important article
of food in many parts of America, as, for instance, in the island of Cuba, but is not very abundant in
California. In some provinces it is made into a kind of bread or cake, while the Californians, who
would find this process too tedious, simply roast the yukas in a fire like potatoes. Another root eaten
by the natives is that of the aloe plant, of which there are many kinds in this country. Those species
of this vegetable, however, which afford nourishment — for not all of them are edible — do not grow as
plentifully as the Californians might wish, and very seldom in the neighborhood of water; the prepa-
rations, moreover, which are necessary to render this plant eatable, require much time and labor.
. . . 1 saw the natives also frequently eat the roots of the common reed, just as they were taken
out of the water. Certain seeds, someof them not larger than those of themuatard, and different sorts
in pods that grow on shrubs and little trees, and of which there are, according to Father Piccolo, more
than sixteen kinds, are likewise diligently sought; yet they furnish only a small quantity of grain,
and all that a person can collect with much toil during a whole year may scarcely amount to 12
bushels.

'*lt can be said that the Californians eat, without exception, all animals they can obtain.'' Besides
the different kinds of larger indigenous quadrupeds and birds, they live nowadays on dogs and cats ;
horses, as.'ies, and mules; item^ on owls, mice, and rats; lizards and snakes; bats, grasshoppers, and
crickets ; a kind of green caterpillar without hair, about a finger long, and an abominable white worm
of the length and thickness of the thumb, which they find occasionally in old rotten wood, and con-
sider as a particular delicacy. The chase of game, such as deer and rabbits, furnishes only a small
portion of a Caiifornian's provisions. Supposing that for 100 families 300 deer are killed in the course
of a j-ear, which is a very favorable estimate, they would supply each family only with three meals in
three hundred and sixty -five days, and thus relieve but in a very small degree the h unger and the pov-
erty of these people. The hunting for snakes, lizards, mice, and field-rats, which they practice with
great diligence, is by far more profitable and supplies them with a much greater quantity of articles
for consumption. Snakes, especially, are a favorite -sort of small game, and thousands of them find
annually their way into the stomachs of the Californians.

"In catching fish, particularly in the Pacific, which is much richer in that respect than the Gulf of
California, the natives use neither nets nor hooks, but a kind of lance — that is, a long, slender, pointed
piece of hard wood— which they handle very dexterously in spearing and killing their prey. Sea-turtles
are caught in the same manner.

"I have now mentioned the different articles forming the ordinary food of the Californians; but,
besides these, they reject nothing that their teeth can chew or their stomachs are capable of digesting,
however tasteless or unclean and disgusting it may be. Thus they will eat the leaves of the Indian
fig-tree, the tender shoots of certain shrubs, tanned or nntanned leather, old straps of rawhide, with
which a fence was tied together for years ; item, the bones of pwiltry, sheep, goats, and calves ; putrid
meat or fish swarming with worms, damaged wheat or Indian corn, and many other things of that sort
which may serve to appease the hunger they are almost constantly suffering. Anything that is thrown
to the hogs will be also accepted by a Californian, and he takes it without feeling offended, or thinking
for a moment that he is treated below hi* dignity. For this reason no one took the trouble to clean
the wheat or maize, which was cooked for them in a large kettle, of the black worms and little bugs,
even if the numbers of these vermin had been equal to that of the grains. By a daily distribution of
about 150 bushels of bran (which they are in the habit of eating without any preparation) I could have
induced all my parishioners to remain permanently in the mission, excepting during the time when
the pitahayas are gathered.

"I saw one day a blind man, 70 years of age, who was busily engaged in pounding between two
stones an old shoe made of raw deerskin, and whenever he had detached a piece he transferred it
promptly to his mouth and swallowed it; and yet this man haSa daughter and grown grandchildren.
As .soon as any of the cattle are killed and the hide is spread out on the ground to dry, half a dozen
boys or men will instantly rush upon it and commence to work with knives, flints, and their teetb,
tearing and scratching off pieces, which they eat immediately, till the hide is full of holes or, scattered
in all directions. In the mission of St. Ignatius and in others further toward the north there are
persons who will attach a piece of meat to a string and swallow it and pull it out again a dozen times
in succession, for the sake of protracting the enjoyment of its taste.

"I must here ask permission of the kind reader to mention something of an exceedingly disgusting
and almost inhuman nature, the like of which probably never has been recorded of any people in tlie
world, but which demonstrates better than anything else the whole extent of the poverty, unoleaii-
neas, and voracity of these wretched beings. In describing the pitahayas I have already stated that
• they contain a great many small seeds resembling grains of powder. For some reason unknown to
me these seeds are not consumed in the stomach, but pass off in an undigested state, and in order to
save them the natives collect during the season of the pitahayas that which Is discharged from the

MCGEE] THE SECOND HARVEST 211*

feeble thrift-sense may be regarded as emerging. And the rise of thrift
in Serilandj like esthetic and industrial beginnings generally, is shaped

human body, separate the seeds from it, and roast, grind, and eat them, making merry over their
loHthsome meals, which the Spaniards therefore call the second harvest of the Californians. [This
statement is corroborated in all particulars by Clavigero In his Storia della California, Venice, 1789,
Tol. I, p. 117.] "When I iirst heard that such a filthy habit existed among them I was disinclined to
believe the report, but to my utter regret I became afterwards repeatedly p, witness to the proceeding,
which tbey are unwilling to abandon, like many other bad practices [probably because of the fiducial
character of the custom— W J M.]. Yet I must say in their favor that they have always abstained
from human fiesh, contrary to the horrible usage of so many other American nations who can obtain
their daily food much easier than these poor Californians.

"They have no other drink but the water, and heaven be praised that they are unacquainted with
such strong beverages as are distilled in many American provinces from Indian com, the aloe, and
other plants, and which the Americans in those parts merely drink for the purpose of intoxicating
themselves. When a Californian encounters during his wanderings a pond or pool, and feels a desire
' to quench, his thirst, he lies fat on the ground and applies his mouth directly to the water. Some-
times the horns of cattle are used as drinking vessels.

"Having thus far given an account of the different articles used as aliment by the aborigines of the
peninsula, I will now proceed to describe in what manner they prepare their victuals. They do not
cook, boil, or roast like people in civilized countries, because they are neither acquainted with these
methods nor possessed of vessels and utensils to employ for such purposes; and, besides, their
patience would be taxed beyond endurance if they had to wait till a piece of meat is well cooked or
thoroughly roasted. Their whole process simply consists in burning, singeing, or roasting in an open
jire all such victuals as are not eaten in a raw state. Without any formalities, the piece of meat,
the fish, bird, snake, field mouse, bat, or whatever it may be is thrown into the fiames or on the
glowing embers, and left there to smoke and to sweat for about a quarter of an hour ; after which the
article is withdrawn, in most cases only burned or charred on the outside, but still raw and bloody
within. As soon as it has become sufficiently cool, they shake it a little in order to reiaove the
adhering dust or sand, and eat it with great relish. Tet I must add here, that they do not previously
take the trouble to skin the mice or disembowel the rats, nor deem it necessary to clean the half-
emptied entrails and maws of larger animals, which they have to cut in pieces before they can roast
them. Seeds, kernels, grasshoppers, green caterpillars, the white worms already mentioned, and
similar things that would be lost, on account of tbeir smallness, in the embers and flames of an open
fire, are parched on hot coals, which they constantly throw up and shake in a turtle shell or a kind
offrying pan woven out of a certain plant. What they have parched or roasted in this manner is
ground to powder between two stones, and eaten in a dry state. Bones are treated in like manner.

"They eat everything unsalted, though they might obtain plenty of salt; but since they cannot
dine every day on roant meat and constantly change their quarters, they would find it too cumbersome
to carry always a supply of salt with them.

"The preparation of the aloe, also called mescale or maguey by the Spaniards, requires more time
and labor. The roots, after being properly separated from the plants, are roasted for some hours in a
strong fire, and then buried, twelve or twenty together, in the ground, and well covered with hot
stones, hot ashes, and earth. In this state they have to remain for twelve or fourteen hours, and
when dug out again they are of a fine yellow color, and perfectly tender, making a very palatable
dish, which has served me frequently as food when I had nothing else to eat, or as dessert after dinner
in lieu of fruit. But they act at first as a purgative on persons who are not accustomed to them, and
leave the throat somewhat rough for a few hours afterwards.

"To light a fire the Californians make no use of steel and fiint, but obtain it by the friction of two
pieces of wood. One of them is cylindrical, and pointed on one end, which fits into a round cavity in
the other, and by turning the cylindri^cal piece with great rapidity between their hands, like a twirl-
ing stick, they succeed in igniting the lower piece if they continue the process for a sufficient length
of time,

"The Californians have no fixed time for any sort of business, and eat, consequently, whenever
they have anything, or feel inclined to do so, which is nearly always the case. I never asked one of
them whether he was hungry who failed to answer in the affirmative, even if his appearance indicated
the contrary. A meal in the middle of the day is the least in use among them, because they all set
out earlj- in the morning for their foraging expeditions, and return only in the evening to the place
from which they started, if they do not choose some other locality for their night quarters. The day
being thus spent in running about and searching for food, they have no time left for preparing a
dinner at noon. They start always empty-banded; for if perchance something remains from their
evening repasts they certainly eat it during the night in waking moments or on the following morn-
ing before leaving. The Californians can endure hunger easier and much longer than other people;
whereas they will eat enormously if a chance is given. I often tried to buy a piece of venison from
them when the skin had but lately been stripped off the deer, but regularly received the answer that
nothing was left ; and I knew well enough that the hunter who killed the animal needed no assistance

212* THE SERI INDIANS Ieth.ann.17

by faith and attendant ceremony j for the doubly consumed food is
credited with intensified powers and .virtues, and held to be specially
potent in the relief of hunger and in giving endurance for the hard
warpath or prolonged chase; it is— and makes— very strong ("mucho
fuerte" ), in the laconic and confident explanation of Mash^m. Incon-
gruous as the custom is to higher culture, it finds natural suggestion
in the everyday habits of the tribe, who are wonted not only to the
eating of animal entrails in raw and uncleaned condition, but especially
to the relief of the sharpest pangs of hunger by means of the soft
structures and their semiassimilated contents— an association of much
influence in primitive thought. Concordantly with the custom and tlie
faith grown out of it, the excreta in general take a prominent place
in the Seri mind; the use of urine in ablution, etc, is little understood
and may be passed over; but all bony feces— and it may be noted that
the "sign" of the Seri more resembles that of wolves or snake-eating
swine than that of men- following gorges of large quarry are custom-
arily located and kept in mind for recourse in time of ensuing shortage,
when the mass is ground on the ahst and reconsumed; and even the
ordinary discharge is preserved during the seasons of less reliable
food-supply.

There is an obscure connection between this curious and repulsive
food custom of the Seri and the mortuary customs of the tribe, which

to finish it. Twenty-four pounds of meat in twenty-four hours is not deemed an extraordinary ration
for a single person, and to see anything eatable before him is a temptation for a Californian which he
cannot resist; and not to make away with it before night would be a victory he is very seldom
capable of gaining over himself."

Clavigero's account of the food-habits of the California Indians is similar, though generally less
explicit. According to him the seeds forming the "second harvest of pitahayas" are extracted care-
fully while fresh, and are afterward roasted, ground, and preserved in the form of meal against the
ensuing winter. Of the reswallowing habit, he says :

"The savages living in the northern part of the peninsula have found the secret, unknown to
mortals in general, to eat and re-eat the same meal repeatedly. They tie a string around a mouthful
of meat dried and hardened in the sun. Afterchewingitfora while they swallow it, leaving lihe string
hanging from the mouth. After two or three minutes, by means of the string they draw the meat up
again to be rechewed, and this they repeat as many times as .may be necessary until the morsel is
consumed or so softened that the string will not hold it any longer. In extracting it from the throat
they make such a noise that to one who- has not before heard it it appears that they are choking
themselves.

"When many individuals are gathered together to eat in this manner it is practiced with more cere-
mony. They seat themselves on the ground, forming a circle of eight or ten persons. One of them
takes the mouthful and swallows it, and afterwards draws it up again and passes it to the next one,
and this one to another, proceeding thus arotmd the circle with much en^joyment until the morsel is
consumed. This has astonished the Spaniards who haVe seen it, and indeed it would not be credible
jf it had not been unanimously testified to by all who have been in that country. Several Jesuits who
did not believe this, notwithstanding that sincere and prominent persons confirmed it, having after-
wards gone to California saw it with their own eyes. Among those Indians who have embraced
Christianity this loathsome and dangerous method of eating has been abandoned in consequence of
the continual reproofs of the missionaries." (Historia de la Antigua 6 Baja California, obra postuma
del Padre Francisco Javier Clavijero ; Mexico, 1852, p. 24.)

The records of Clavigero and Baegert indicate fair correspondence in the food habits of the Califor-
nia Indians and the Seri, though there are certain noteworthy diifereuces, e. g., the tabu of the badger
among the former and of the ground-squirrrel among the latter; it would also appear that the Cali-
fornians were the more largely vegetarian and the better advanced in culinary processes. The cus-
toms of the Seri throw light on the genesis of " re-eating", for the process would appear to be but an
extension of the repeated mouthing and swallowing of tendonous strings still attached to the bones of
larger animals.

MOQEE]

MORTUARY FOOD SUPPLIES

213*

was not detected until the opportunity for personal inquiry had gone
by. About the rancherias on Isla Tiburon, and especially about the
. extensive house-group at the base of Punta Tormenta, there are burial
places marked by cairns of cobbles, or by heaps of thorny brambles
where cobbles are not accessible; and most of these cairns and bramble-
piles are supplemented by hoards of desiccated feces carefully stored
in shells, usually otArca (a typical specimen is illustrated in figure 25).
The hoards range from 50 to 500 shells in quantity, and there were fully
a score of them at Punta Tormenta alone. About the newer rancherias,
as at Eada Ballena, where there are no cemeteries, the hoards are simply
piled about small clumps of shrubbery. The meaning of the association
of the dietetic residua and death in the Seri mind is not wholly clear;
yet the connection between the "strong food" for the warpath and the

Fig. 25— Scatophagio supplies.

mystical food for the manes in the long journey to the hereafter is close
enough to give some inkling of the meaning.^

In recapitulating the food supplies of the Seri it is not without inter-
est to estimate roughly the relative quantities of the several constitu-
ents consumed; and the proportions maybe made the more readily
comprehensible by expression in absolute terms. As a basis for the
quantitative estimate, it may be assumed that the average Seri, living,
as he does, a vigorous outdoor life, consuming, as he does, a diet of less
average nutrition than the selected and cooked foods of higher culture,
and attaining, as he does, an exceptional stature and strength, eats
something more than the average ration; so that his ration of solid
food may be lumped at 2.75 pounds (about 1,250 grams) daily, or 1,000

1 Cf. Scatologic Kites of all Nations, by Captain John G-. Buurke, 189] , especially chapter li, pp. 459-460.
The Seri custom, resting, as it does, on an evident economic basis, tends to explain the scatophagy of
the Hopi and other tribes described by Bourke.

214*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

pounds (about 455 kilograms) yearly. The aggregate diet of the tribe
may be estimated also by assuming the population to comprise 300 full
eaters, besides, say, 50 nurslings negligible in the computation; so that
the annual consumption of the tribe may be reckoned at 300,000 pounds
(136,000 kilograms), or 150 tons, of solid food. Accordingly the several
constituents may be estimated, as shown ih the accompanying table, in
percentages of the total, in pounds aggregate and apiece for, the eaters,
and (so far as practicable) in units both aggregate and apiece; the
weights of units being roughly averaged at 100 pounds (45 kilograms)
for turtles, 12J pounds (5.6 kilograms) for large land game, 450 pounds
(about 200 kilograms) for stock, and 2 ounces (56.7 grams) for tunas.

Estimated annual dietary of the Seri tribe

Constituents

Per

cent

Quantity

TTnits

Aggregate

Apiece

Aggregate

Apiece

Turtles

25
5
8
15
10
7
8
6
9

Pounds
75, 000
15, 000
24, 000
45, COO
30, 000
21,000
24, 000
18, 000
27, 000
15, 000
6,000

Pounds

250

150

100

750
1,200

21
4

Pelicans

Other water-fowl and eggs

Fish

•

Shellfish (except turtles)

Large land game

Other land game

Stock

Tunas

Other vegetals

Miscellaneous

200

40
216, 000

•A
720

Total

100

300, 000

1,000

Of course the constituents vary with temporary conditions; during
"The Time of the Big Pish", practically all other sources of food were
neglected until the providential supply was exhausted; during the
decades of main subsistence on stolen stock it is probable that the con-
sumption of other constituents, perhaps excepting the tunas, was pro-
portionately reduced; and it is not improbable that during the warfare
between Seri and Tepoka, described by Hardy, the consumption of tur-
tles was materially diminished. Judging from the direct and indirect
data and from general analogies, the least variable constituent is the
cactus fruit, which probably fails but raroly and is so easily harvested as
practically to supplant all other supplies during its season of a month or
more. At the best, too, the quantitative estimates are nothing more
than necessarily arbitrary approximations, based on incomplete inquir-
ies and observations ; ' yet they are better than no estimates at all, and

> About 200 turtle-shells were noticed about the ranoherias at Punta Tormenta and Eada Ballena
alone in 1895. all being lees than two years old, as .judged from the degree of weathering.

McoEEi THE CARNIVOROUS HABIT 215*

appear to form a fairly trustworthy basis for consideration of the Seri
food habits.

On reviewing the constituents it would appear that the Seri mnst be
regarded as essentially a maritime people, in that about two-thirds of
their food is derived from the sea; also that they must be deemed essen-
tially carnivorous, since fully five-sixths of their diet (84 per cent
plus a share of the miscellaneous— chiefly scatophagous — category) is
animal. The tabulation does not show the relative proportions of the
several constituents cooked and eaten raw, but the best available data
indicate that fully three-fourths of the ordinary dietary, both animal
and vegetal, is ingested in raw condition, and that the greater part of
the remaining fourth is imperfectly cooked.

In recapitiilating the devices for food-getting, it is found that nearly
all of the more distinctive artifacts and crafts are either directly or
indirectly connected with that primary activity of living things, food-
conquest. Foremost among the distinctive artifacts of the Seri, in its
relation to daily life and in its technical perfection, is the canteen-oUa;
probably second in importance, and also in technical perfection, is the
balsa — whose functions, however, extend beyond simple food-getting;
next comes the crude and simple, yet economically perfected, turtle-har-
poon, with its variants in the form of arrow (with a function in warfare
as well as in food-getting) and flredrill; while the light basket-tray,
although capable of carrying ten to twenty-five times its own weight,
is perhaps the least perfect technically of the artifacts directly connected
with sustentation. And it should be noted that the prevailing tools —
hupf, ahst, multifunctional shell, and awl of mandible or bone or tooth —
have either an immediate or a secondary connection with food-getting.

NAVIGATION

At first sight Seriland seems an abnormal habitat for a primitive
people, since its land, area is cleft in twain by a stormy strait — a strait
whose terrors to the few Caucasian navigators who have reached its
swirling currents are indicated by their appellations, " El Canal Peli-
groso de San Miguel'" and "El Infiernillo"; for such a stretch of
troubled water is commonly a more serious bar to travel than any mod-
erate land expanse. This intuitive notion of the effectiveness of a
water barrier, and the corielative feeling of the incongruity of a land
barrier insuperable for centuries, is well illustrated by prevailing opin-
ion throughout northwestern Mexico ; for it is commonly supposed in
Sonora and neigliboring states that Seriland is conterminous with Isla
Tiburon, i. e., that the mainland portion of the province (including
Sierra Seri with its flanking footslopes) lies beyond the diabolic chan-
nel. Yet longer scrutiny shows that the superficial impression merely
mirrors Caucasian thought and fails to touch the essential conditions.

"Hardy, Travels, p. 291.

216* THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.anh.17

especially as they are reflected in the primitive minds of the local tribe;
and careful study of the habits and history of tlie Seri shows that the
dangerous strait has been a potent factor in preserving tribal existence
and perpetuating tribal integrity. !N"aturally the factor operates through
navigation ; for it is by means of this art that the tribesmen are able to
avoid or to repel the rare invaders of either mainland or insular portions
of their province, the overland pioneers from the east being stopped
by the strait and the maritime explorers from south and west being
unable to maintain themselves long about the stormy shores and never
outfitted for pushing far toward the mainland retreats and strongholds;
while by means of their light and simple craft the Seri were able to
retreat or to advance across the strait as readily as over the adjacent
lauds to which they were wonted by the experience of generations. In
their minds, indeed, El Inflernillo is the nucleus of their pi^vince. So
the Seri were among the lowliest learners of that lesson of highest state-
craft, that lands are not divided but united by intervening sea; and
their ill-formulated and provincial notions are of much significance in
their bearing on autochthonous habits and habitats.

The water craft af which the Seri make so good use is a balsa, made
of three bundles of carrizal or cane lashed together alongside, meas-
uring barely 4 feet abeam, IJ feet in depth, and some 30 feet in length
over all. A fine specimen (except for a slight injury at one end) is
shown in plan and profile in plate xxxi. It was obtained near Boca
Infierno in 1805, partly towed and partly paddled thence to Embar-
cadero Andrade, wagoned laboriously across Desierto Encinas and on
to Hermosillo, conveyed in an iron-sheathed box on two gondolas of
the narrow-gage Ferrocarril de Sonora to the international frontier,
and finally freighted to the United States National Museum, where (m
the Mall just outside the building) the photographs reproduced in the
plate were taken.

The manufacture of the balsa has never been seen by Caucasian eyes,
but the processes are safely inferred from the structure, whose testimony
is corroborated in part by Mash^m^s imperfect descriptions. The first
step is the gathering of the carrizaLfrom one of the patches growing about
the three or four permanent fresh watersof Seriland, thecanes being care-
fully selected for straightness, symmetry, and uniformity in size; these
are then denuded <if leaves and tassels, tied in bundles of convenient
size (one seen on Tiburon contained 40 or 50 canes), and carried to the
shore. In actual construction the canes are laid butt to butt, but over-
lapping 2 or 3 feet, the overlap being shifted this way and that with
successive additions, so that the aggregate length of overlapping in the
bundle reaches 10 or 12 fept— i. e., the full length of the body of the
finished craft. The growing bundle is wrapped from time to time with
lashings of mesquite root or maguey fiber, and kept in cylindrical form
by constant rolling and by means of the lashing; though the cord used
for the purpose is so slender as to do little more than serve the purposes

J
<

UJ
CD

MCSBE]

THE MAKING OF THE BALSA

217*

of manufacture (only stray shreds of the interior
cording could be found in an old and abandoned balsa
on Punta Antigualla). As the bundle approaches
the requisite size, the building process changes; the
butts of the successively added stalks are thrust
obliquely into the interstices extending beyond the
butts of earlier-used canes, and the stems are
slightly bent to bring them into parallelism with
their fellows; and this interweaving process is con-
tinued with increasing care until, when the bundle is
completed, there are no visible butts (all being
pushed into the interior of the bundle), while the
only visible tips are those projecting to form the
tapering extremities. The finished bundle is then
secured by a spiral winding of slender cord. Two
other bundles are next made, the three being entirely
similar, so far as is known; then the three are joined
by a lashing of slender cord like that used for the
separate bundles, which is twined alternately above
and below the central bundle iu such manner as to
hold the three in an approximate plane save toward
the extremities, where the lashing is much firmer
and the tapering tips of the bundles are brougl.t into
a triangular position, i. e., the position of smallest
compass. The cordage is of either mesquite root or
maguey fiber, the former being the more common,
so far as observed (doubtless by reason of the dearth
of the latter plant) ; it is notably uniform in twist
and size, though surprisingly slender for the pur-
pose, barely three-sixteenths of an inch, or 5 mm., in
diameter, and limited in quantity.' The only tools
or implements used in the manufacture (and repair),
so far as is known, are light wooden marlinspikes,
two of which are illustrated in figure 26 ; these are
used in working the cane-butts into the bundles.
In collecting the canes the tassels are broken off and
the leaves stripped by the unaided hands, while
the stalks are broken off usually below the secondary
roots in the downward taper, and the rootlets and
loose ends are removed either with the hands or
by fire.

The finished balsa is notably light and buoyant.
The Boca Infierno specimen was estimated to weigh
about 250 pounds (113 kilograms) when thoroughly
dry, and little more than 30t) pounds (126 kilograms)

FlQ.

26— Seri marlin-
spikes.

1 0nly the finer cordiBg shown in plate xxxi is original, the coarser ropes having been added to
facilitate handling.

218*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

when completely wet; so that it could easily be picked up by three or
four, or even by two, strong men and carried ashore to be hidden in the
fog-shrubbery skirting the coast. The craft floated high with one man
aboard, rode better with two, carried three without much difficulty even
in a fairly heavy sea, and would safely bear four adults aggregating
600 pounds (272 kilograms) in moderate water. The most striking
features pf the craft afloat are its graceful oiovement and its perfect
adaptation to variable seas and loads. Tlie lines are symmetric and of
great delicacy, as indicated even by the photograplis out of its element;
the reed-bundles are yielding, partly by resilience and partly in the way
of set, so that the body of the craft curves to iit the weight and distri-
bution of the load and to meet the impact of swells and breakers. In
smooth water a lightly laden balsa may appear heavy and logy, but
with a heavier load and stronger sea each tapering end rises^ strongly
and then recurves slightly in a Hogarthian line graceful as the neck of a
swan, while the whole craft skims the waves or glides sinuously over their

FiQ. 27— The halaa. afloat.

crests in a lightsome way, recalling the easy movement of gull or petrel.
A suggestion of its eft'ect is showji in figure 27, a composite drawn largely
from photographs ; another suggestion is shown in figure 28, reproduced
in facsimile from a drawing by the artist of the TJ. S. S. NarraganseU
in 1873,' the only known picture of the craft antecedent to the 1895
expedition.

Almost equally striking features of the balsa are its efficiency and
safety under the severe local conditions. Carrying twice its weight of
(chiefly) living freight, it breasts gales and rides breakers and stems
tiderips that would crush a canoe, swamp a skiff, or capsize a yawl;
while if caught in currents or surf and cast ashore it is seldom wrecked,
but drops lightly on beach or rocks, to be pushed uninjured by the
broken wave-tips beyond the reach of pounding rollers, even if it is
not at once caught up by its passengers and carried to complete safety.
The strength of the craft is amazing, esjjecially in view of the slender-

> Publication No. 56, IT. S. Hydrograpliio OiBce, Bureau of Navigation, 1880, plate XV, p. 136.

MCGEE]

EFFICIENCY OF THE BALSA

219*

ness of the cords used in construction; in fact, the outer layers of canes
are so ingeniously interlocked by the Insertion of their butts into inter-
stices that each bundle holds itself together with slight aid from the
exterior cording, while even the bundles themselves are held in proper
relative position by the secure terminal tying rather than by the inter-
twined cording of the body of the craft. And the entire construction
exemplifies the compartment principle to perfection; a slight injury
may affect but a single joint of one out of several thousand canes, while
even a severe fall on sharp rocks seldom injures more than a few score
canes, and these in a few joints only. The most objectionable feature
of the balsa lies in the fact that it affords little protection from the wet.
The water rises freely through the reed bundles to a height depending
on the load, and not only the spray but the whitecaps and combers
as well dash freely over the unprotected body of the craft; but this
defect is of little consequence to the hardy and nearly nude navigators,
or to their scanty and practically uninjurable freight.

Fig. 28— Seri balsa as seen by NarrUgmwett party.

The gracefulness and efficiency of the balsa itself stand in strong
cofitrast with the crude methods of propulsion. According to Mash6m,
the craft is commonly propelled by either one or two women lying
prone on the reeds and paddling either with bare hands or with large
shells held in the hands; according to Hardy, the harpoon main shaft
is used by turtle fishermen for paddling (and probably for poling, also) ;
according to the Dewey picture (figure 28), the vessel is driven by a
woman with a double-end paddle like that used in connection with the
conventional canoe; while the expedition of 1895 found on Isla Tibnron
four or five paddles rudely wrought from flotsam boards and barrel-
staves, and partly hafted with rough sticks 3 or 4 feet long, but partly
without handles and evidently designed to be grasped directly, like the
shells of Mash^m's descriptions. No trace of oars, rowlocks, sculls,
rudders, or masts were found, and there is nothing to indicate the
faintest notion of sails and sailing. On the whole there is no trace of
well differentiated propelling devices — i. e., the craft is perfected only
^s a static device and not at all as a dynamic mechanism.

220* THE SEBI INDIANS [eth.ank.IT

Despite their poverty in propelling devices, the Seri navigate their
waters successfully and extensively. Perhaps the commonest function
of the craft is that exercised in connection with the turtle fishery,
though its chief office as a factor of general industrial economy is that
of bridging Bl Infiernillo at the will of the roving clans. It is by means
of this craft, also, that the semiceremonial pelican feasts on Tiburon
are consummated; it is by the same means that Isla Patos, Isla Turner,
Roca Foca, and other insulated sources of food-supply are habitually
reached; and both Mash^m's accounts and the Jesuits' records indi-
cate that occasional voyages are pushed to San Esteban, San Lorenzo,
Angel de la Guarda, and even to the Baja California coast.

Concordantly with the tribal customs, little freight is carried. The
traveling family transport their poor possessions to the shore, bring
out the balsa from its hiding place in the thick and thorny fog-shrub-
bery, launch it, lade it with a filled olla and the weapons of a man and
implements of a woman, besides any chance food and clothing, and
embark lightly to enjoy the semirepose of drifting before the breeze —
until the rising gale brings labor still more arduous than that of scour-
ing the spall-strewn slopes or sandy stretches of their hard motherland.
Commonly the terminus of the trip is fixed largely by the chance of
wind and tide; and when it is reached the party carry the craft inshore,
conceal it shrewdly, and then take up their birdskin bed and walk
forth in search of fresh water and meat. The successful fishing trips
of course end in orgies of gorging, and when the voyage is the climax of
a foray to the mainland frontier for stock-stealing, the quarters and
paunches and heads hastily thrown aboard at the mainland side of the
strait are carried to the rancherias for consumption at leisure; and this
has happened so often that equine hoofs and bovine bones are common
constituents of the middens on Tiburon.

Although measurably similar to Central American and South Amer-
ican types of water-craft, the Seri balsa is a notably distinct type for
its region. The California natives, as well as those of the mainland of
Mexico south of Eio Taqui, used rafts made either of palm trunks
or of other logs lashed alongside rather than balsas; while the far-
traveling tribes used either sails or well-differentiated paddles for
propulsion.

Briefly, the Seri balsa is remarkable for perfect adaptation to
those needs of its makers shaped by their distinctive environment.
It seems to approach the ideal of industrial economy — the acme of
practicality— in the adjustment of materials and forces to the ends
of a lowly culture; and, like the olla and harpoon and arrow, it affords
an impressive example of the adjustment of artifacts to environment
through the intervention of budding intelligence. Yet the chief
significance of the craft would seem to reside in its vestigial character
as a survival of that orariau stage in the course of human development

MOOEK] SURVIVAL OF VESTIGIAL CUSTOMS 221*

in which men lived alongshore and adjusted themselves to maritime
conditions rather than to terrestrial environments; a stage evidently
but barely passed by the Seri, since they still subsist mainly on sea
food, still retain their suggestive navigation, and still view their stormy
straits and bays as the nucleus and noblest portion of their province.

HABITATIONS

Among the Seri, as among primitive folk generally, the habitation
reflects local conditions, especially climate and building materials.
Eow, Seriland is a subtropical yet arid tract, where rain rarely falls,
frost seldom forms, and snow is known only as a fleeting mantle on
generally distant mountains, so that there is little need for protection
from cold and wet; at the same time the district is too desert to yield
serviceable building material other than rock, which the lowly folk
have not learned to manipulate* Moreover, the tribesmen and their
families are perpetual fugitives (their movements being too erratic and
aimless to put them in the class of nomads) ; they are ti)0 accustomed to
wandering and too unaccustomed to long resting at particular spots to
have a home-sense, save for their motherland as a whole; and, just as
they rely on their own physical hardihood for preservation against the
elements, so they depend on their combined fleetness and prowess for
preservation against enemies. Accordingly, the Seri habitation is not
a permanent abode, still less a domicile for weaklings or a shrine for
household lares and penates, not at all a castle of proprietary sanctity,
and least of all a home; it is rather a time-serving lair than a house in
ordinary meaning.

Despite the poverty of the material and the squalor of the structure,
certain features of the Seri jacal are notably uniform and conventional.
In size and form it recalls the passing "prairie schooner", or covered
wagon ; it is some 10 or 12 feet long, half as wide measured on the
ground, and about 4J feet high, with one end (the front) open to the
full width and height, and the other nearly or quite closed. The con-
ventional structural features comprise the upright bows and horizontal
tie-sticks forming the framework. The bows are made of okatilla
stems (Fouquiera splendens) roughly denuded of their thorns; each is
formed by thrusting the butts of two such stems (or more if they are
slender) into the ground at the requisite distance apart, bending the
tops together into an overlap of a yard or two, and securing them
partly by intertwisting, partly by any convenient lashing; and about
five or six such bows suffice for a jacal (the appearance of the bows is
fairly represented by the ruin shown in plate vii). Next come the tie-
sticks, which consist of any convenient material (okatilla stems, cane-
stalks, paloblanco branches, mesquite roots, saguaro ribs, etc.), and
are lashed to the butts by means of withes, splints, or fiber wisps, at a
height of some 4 feet above the ground, or about where the walls merge
into the roof. With the placing of these sticks the conventional part

222* THE SERI INDIANS [bth.ann.17,

of the building process may be said to end; for up to this point the proc-
ess is a collective one and the materials are essentially uniform, while
thereafter the completion of the work depends largely on individual or
family caprice, and the materials are selected at random. Moreover,
the framework is fairly permanent, usually surviving a number of occu-
pancies extending over months or years, and outlasting an equal num-
ber of outer coverings; so that all habitable Seriland is dotted sparsely
with jacal skeletons, sometimes retaining fragments of walls or roof,
but oftener entirely denuded.

The conversion of the framework into a habitable jacal is effected by
piling around and over it any convenient shrubbery, by which it is made
a sort of bower; sometimes the conversion is aided by the attachment
of additional tie-sticks both above and below the main horizontal pieces,
as illustrated in the upper figure of plate ix ; sometimes, too, the material
of walls and roof is carefully selected and interwoven with such pains as
to form a rude thatch, as in the chief jacal at Eada Ballena (the upper
figure in plate vi); but more commonly the covering is collected at
random and is laid so loosely that it is held in place only by gravity and
wind pressure, and may be dislodged by a change of wind. Ordinarily
the walls are thicker and denser than the roofs, which are supplemented
in time of occupancy by haunches of venison, remnantal quarters of cattle
and horses, half-eaten turtles, hides and pelts, as well as bird-skin robes,
thrown on the bows partly to keep them out of reach of coyotes and
partly to afford shade. Most of the jacales about the old rancheria at
Punta Tormenta (abandoned at "TheTimeof the Big Fish"), which may
be regarded as the center of the turtle industry, are irregularly clap-
boarded with turtle-shells and with sheets of a local sponge, as illus-
trated in plate vii. This sponge abounds in the bight of Eada Ballena,
where at high water it spreads over the silty bottom in a slimy sheet,
and at low water with off-shore gales is left by the waters to dry into a
light and fairly tenacious mat, which is gathered in sheets for bedding as
well as for house making material (a specimen of the sponge — probably
Chalina — is shown on larger scale in .plate viii). On the frontier the
jacales may be modified by the introduction of sawed or riven lumber,
as illustrated by some of the structures at Costa Eica (shown in plate
XI); but even here there is a strong disposition to adhere to the cus-
tomary form, and especially to the conventional framework, as indicated
by the example in plate x.

While the jacales are not consistently oriented, they reveal a primary
preference for facing away from the prevailing wind and toward the
nearest sea, with a secondary preference for southern and eastern expo-
sures—the former preference being easily explained, since a gale from
the front quickly strips walls and roof and scatters the materials afar.
jSTo definite order is observed in the placement of the several jacales in
thelarger rancherias ; apparently the first is located at the choice of the
leading elderwoman, and the others are clustered about it at the com-

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXIl

PAINTED OLLA, WITH OLLA RING

MCGEE] THE builders' CHANT 223*

moil convenience. Usually the several jacales are entirely separate;
but at Punta Tormenta, Punta Narragansett, and still more notably at
Eada Ballena, individual huts were found either extended to double
length or joined obliquely in such wise as to show two fronts (as illus-
trated in plate vi). The conventional frameworks appear to be common
tribal property, at least to the extent that an abandoned skeleton may
be preempted by any comer ; while the addition of walls and roof appears
to afford a prescriptive proprietary right to the elderwoman and family
by whom the work is done — though the right seems to hold only during
occupancy, or until the temporary covering is dislodged.

The jacales are without semblance of furnishing, beyond an occa-
sional ahst and a few loose pebbles used as hupfs ; though the nooks
behind the bows and tie-sticks sometimes serve as places of conceal-
ment for paint-cups, awls, hair bobbins, and other domestic trifles.
There is no floor but earth, and this remains in natural condition,
except for trampling and wearing into wallows, recalling those of fowls
and swine, which afford a rough measure of the periods of occupancy;
there is no fireplace— indeed, fires are rarely made iii the jacales, nor
for that matter frequently anywhere; and there are no fixed places for
bedding, water oUas, or other portable possessions, none of which are
left behind when the householders are abroad.

Little is known of the actual process of jacal building, especially in
Seriland proper; but the observations of Seiior Buciuas and his
vaqueros on the frontier corroborate Mash^m's statements that the
houses are built by (and belong to) the matrons; that several women
customarily cooperate in the collection of the okatflla and erection of
the framework; that the only tools used in the processes are hupfs
and miscellaneous sticks; and that the placing and fitting of the beams
and tie sticks are accompanied by a chant, usually led by the eldest
matron of the group. The same informants support the ready infer-
ence from the structure that the shrubbery and other material forming
walls and roofs are gathered and placed from time to time by the
women occupying the jacales.

The Seri building chant is suggestive. Neither Senor Encinas nor
Mash^m regarded it as religious or even ritualistic, but merely as a
work-song designed (in the naive notion of the latter) to make the task
lighter; and it seems probable that the local interpretation is correct.
If so, the simple chant at once offers rational explanation for its own
existence, and opens the way to explanation of the elaborate building
rituals of more advanced tribes. The work-song is a common device in
many lowly activities, ranging from those of children at play to those
of sailors at the windlass, and undoubtedly serves a useful purpose in
guiding, coordinating, and concentrating effort; to some extent the
vocal accompaniment to the manual or bodily action apparently
expresses that normal interrelation of functions manifested by second-

224* THE SKEI INDIANS [bth.ank.17

ary sense-effects (as when the sense of smell is intensified by exercise
of the organs of taste), or, in another direction, by the habit of the
youthful penman who shapes his letters by aid of lingual and facial
contortionj yet it is a characteristic of primitive life — one doubtless
due to the interrelations of psycho-physical functions — to not only
employ but to greatly exalt vocal formulas associated with manual
activities, so that words, and eventually the Word, acquires a mystical
or talismanic or sacred signiflcance pervading all lower culture — indeed
the savage shaman is unable to work his marvels without mumbled
incantations ending in some formulated and well-understood utterance,
and his practice persists in the meaningless mummery and culminating
"presto" of modern jugglery. So, viewed in the light of psycho- physi-
cal causes and prevalent customs connected with vocal formulas, it
would seem probable that the conventional features of the Seri jacales
are crystallized in the tribal lore quite as effectually through the asso-
ciated work-chants as through direct memory of the forms and struc-
tures themselves. And the simple runes chanted in unison by Seri
matrons engaged in bending and lashing their okatilla house-bows
apparently define a nascent stage in the development of the elaborate
fiducial housebuilding ceremonies characteristic of various higher
tribes; for the spontaneous vocal accompaniment tends naturally to run
into ritual under that law of the development of myth or fable which
explains so many of the customs and notions of primitive peoples.'

APPARELING

Slightly as they have been affected by three centuries of sporadic
contact with higher culture, the Seri reveal many marks of accultura-
tion; and the most conspicuous of these are connected with clothing,
especially on the frontier, where women and even warriors habitually
wear a livery of subserviency in the form of cast-off Caucasian rags
(as illustrated in most of the photographs taken at Costa Eica). Even
in the depths of Seriland the native fabrics are largely replaced by
white men's stuffs, obtained by barter, beggary, and robbery; yet it is
easy to distinguish the harlequin veneer of borrowed trappings from
the few fixed types of covering that seem characteristic.

The most distinctive piece of apparel is a kilt, extending from waist
to knees, worn alike by men and women and the larger children.
Aboriginally it was either a birdskin robe or a rectangle of coarse
textile fabric, secured at the waist by a hair-cord belt; acculturally it
is usually a rectangle of manta (coarse sheeting) or other stuff, prefer-
ably cotton or linen but sometimes woolen, fastened either by tucking
in the corners or by a belt of cord. Good specimens of the accultural
cloth kilt worn by men and larger boys are illustrated in plates xvi

*The law of fable in its relation to primitive surgery is formulated in the Sixteenth Ann. Eep. Bur.
Am. Eth., 1897, p. 22.

MCGEB] THE KILT AND WAMMUS 225*

and XIX; the birdskin kilt (put on for the purpose) is illustrated in
plate XVIII, while the aboriginal fabric is fairly represented in plate
XXIX, Although ordinarily worn as a kilt, the same article (tempora-
rily replaced by an improvised substitute) serves other purposes at the
convenience of the wearer; in the chase for tunas and for moving game
it becomes a bag or pack-sheet; in case of cold rain it is shifted to the
shoulders or the exposed side ; during the siesta it is elevated on a
shrub and a stick to serve as a canopy; at sleeping time generally it
forms (especially when of birdskin) a bed, i. e., a combined mattress
and coverlet; and in attack or defense the pelican skin is at once stand-
ard, buckler, and waving capa to confuse quarry or enemy after the
manner of the toreador's cloak.

An almost equally distinctive garment is a short shirt or wammus,
with long sleeves, worn by men and women but not by children; ordi-
narily it covers the thorax, missing connection with the kilt by a few
inches, and so affording ventilation and space for suckling the teeming
offspring. Unlike the kilt, it is an actual garment, fitted with sleeves
and fastened in front with hair-cord strings. Although the Seri
wammus corresponds fairly with a Yaqui garment, it seems practically
certain that it is of local aboriginal design, and that it was made prim-
itively of haircloth or native textiles (as illustrated in plate xxix) and
worn rather ceremoniously; but latterly it is made of manta and is
worn habitually (at least by the women and on the frontier), though
cast aside in preparation for any special task or effort — i. e., it is not
connected with pudency-sense, save to a slight degree in the younger
women. The form, function, and prevalence of the wammus are illus-
trated by the group shown in plate xiii, in which nearly all of the
thirty-odd adults wear the garment.

These two articles constitute the ordinary wearing apparel of the
Seri, though they are commonly supplemented (especially when both
are of manta) by a pelican-skin robe, which is habitually carried to
serve as bed or mackintosh, according to the chance of journey and
weather, or as a shield in sudden warfare. No head-covering is used,
save in the ceremonial masquerade, when the heads of animals are worn
as masks,' or in aping Caucasian customs, especially on expeditions for
barter (as illustrated in plate xii). Loose trousers of Mexican pattern
are sometimes put on at frontier points, but are discarded in Seriland
proper, save by Mash^m, who maintains prestige partly by this bor-
rowed badge of Caucasian superiority. Leggings and moccasins are
eschiBwed, naturally enough, since they would afford little protection
from the sharp spalls and savage thorns of the district, and would give
lodgment for the barbed spines inevitably gathered in rapid chase or
flight over cactus-dotted stretches; and the only foot-covering seen
(save Mash^m's boots) was a single sandal made from the rough skin
of a turtle-flipper, apparently for ceremonial rather tban practical use.

' Hardy (Travels, p. 298) describes the ceremonial wearing of the heads of deer with horns attached.
17 ETH 15

226*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. AKN. 17

Of all the party at Oosta Eica in 1894 subchief Mash^m was the only-
one who wore Caucasian apparel with any air of comfort and fitness ; yet
even he, with hat and shirt, boots and breeches, and loose bandana
about his neck in cowboy style (plate xvii), did not feel fully dressed
without the slender hair-cord necklace of his kin in its wonted place.
Ou the frontier improvised fig-leaves were sometimes put on the chil-
dren of less than a dozen years (as illustrated by the standing infant
shown in plate xiv, who was thus dressed hastily for her picture) ; and
a common garb of the smaller children at Oosta Eica, as they played
about the rancheria or wandered in directions away from the white

Fig. 29— Serl hairbrush.

Fig. 30— Serf cradle.

man's rancho, was limited to a cincture of hair cord or snake skin, or
perhaps of agave fiber, under which an improvised kilt might be tucked
on the Caucasian's approach.

In addition to the individual apparel, each clan, or at least the elder-
woman or her fraternal executive, accumulates some surplus material
as opportunity offers, and this serves as family bedding until occasion
arises for converting it to other uses. Of late the prevailing materials
are pelican skins, lightly dressed and joined into robes by sinew stitch-
ing; deerskins, dried or partially dressed; cormorant skins, treated like
those of the pelican; seal skins, usually fragmentary; peccary skins,

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXIll

^^7— r^mj

PLAIN OLLA

MCGBE]

LARGE USE OF SKINS

227*

apparently dried without dressing, together with
skins of rabbits, mountain sheep, antelope, etc,
usually tattered or torn into fragments. Commonly
the hides and pelts are nearly or quite in natural
condition, retaining the hair, fur, or feathers. The
dressing is apparently limited to scratching and
gnawing away superfluous flesh, followed by some
rubbing and greasing; tanning is apparently un-
known. By far the most abundant of the collective
possessions are the pelican-skin robes, which form
the sole article of recognized barter with aliens.
The aggregate stock accumulated at any time is but
meager, never too much to be borne on the heads
and backs of the clan in case of unexpected de-
camping.

Aside from the painting paraphernalia, there is
but a single conspicuous toilet article; this is a hair-
brush made of yucca fiber bound into cylindrical
form, as illustrated in figure 29. This article is in
frequent use; both women and men give much atten-
tion to brushing their own long and luxurious locks
and cultivating the hair and scalps of their children,
the process being regarded as not only directly useful
but in some measure sacramental. Ordinarily the
hair is parted in the middle and brushed straight,
the tresses being permitted to wander at will and
never braided or bound or restrained by fillets save
in imitation of Caucasian customs on the frontier;
though in certain ceremonies the pelage is gathered
in a lofty knot on the top-head.'

The Seri cradle is merely a bow of paloblanco or
other switch with rude cross-sticks lashed on, as
shown in figure 30. On this is laid a small pelican-
skin robe, with a quantity of pelican down for a
diaper, and perhaps a few pelican feathers attached
as plumes to ^ave over the occupant's face; though
on the frontier these primitive devices are largely
replaced by rags.

Among the important appurtenances of Seri life
are the cords used for belts and necklaces, as well as
for the attachment of ceremonial headdresses, for con-
verting the kilts into bags, and for numberless minor
purposes. The finest of these are made from human
hair; and for this purpose the combings are care-
fully kept, twisted into strands, and wound on thorns
or sticks in slender bobbins, such as that illustrated

Fio. 31— Hair spindle.

'Of. Hardy, Travels, p. 290.

228*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

in figure 31. When the accumulation suffices the strands are doubled
or quadrupled, as shown in figures 32 and 33, and the cords are either

Fig. 32 — Human-hair cord.

applied to immediate use or added to the matron's meager store against
emergency demands. The cordage used for other purposes than apiparel-

Fio. 33— Horsehair cord.

ing is commonly made from fiber extracted either from the roots of the
mesquite or the stipes of the agave; usually it is well twisted and notably

MOQEE] THE HAIR CULT 229*

uniform in size and texture; an inferior example appears in figure 34.
The manes and tails of horses and other stock are also converted into
cordage, of which the chief known application is in toy riatas. It is of
no small significance that the most highly prized cordage material is
human hair, atid that its chief uses are connected with the person ; that
the next in order of diminishing preciousness is that derived from the
fibrous plants, which is used in balsa-making, bowstrings, harpoon
cords, etc, as well as in the native fabrics ; and that the least prized
material is that derived from imported animals, which is largely limited
in its utilization to youthful imitation of Caucasian industries ; for the
association of material with function reflects a distinctive feature of

Fia. 34— MesqniW-flber rppe.

primitive thought, akin to that displayed in somewhat higher culture
as synecdochic magic, the doctrine of signatures, etc.

Partly because of that decadence of aboriginal devices correlated
with acculturation, partly by reason of imperfect observation, practi-
cally nothing is known of Seri spinning and weaving, and little of Seri
sewing. The religiously-guarded hair-combings are twisted in the
fingers and wound on stick-bobbins without aid of mechanical appli-
ances; and, so far as has been observed, the final making of hair cords is
merely a continuation of the strictly manual process. The agave stipes
and mesquite roots are alleged by vaqueros to be retted in convenient
lagoons and barrancas (a statement corroborated by the finding of half
a dozen sections of mesquite root soaking in a lagoon near Punta Anti-

230* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

gualla by the 1895 expedition), and then hatcheled with the hupf or the
edge of a shell; when the fibers are gathered in slender wisps or loosely-
wound coils, both of which were among the possessions of the Seri
matrons at Costa Eica in 1894. So far as could be ascertained, the
final processes parallel those of hair-cord making, i. e,, the fibers are
patiently sorted into strands, sized in the fingers
and twisted by rolling on the thigh, the strands
being subsequently combined in similar fashion.^
Neither the weaving nor the woven fabrics of the
Seri have ever been seen by technologic students
so far as known, though the fabrics are shown in
Von Bayer's photographs and have been described
by various observers. According to Senor Encinas,
they resemble coarse bagging, and are ^oven or
netted quite plainly. The ordinary sewing material

is sinew, used in
connection with a
bone awl (a good
example of which
is illustrated in
figure 35), a fish

Tio. 35— Bone awl.

"Wooden awls.

spine or bone, a cactus thorn, or either the mandible of a water-bird
or a hard-wood skewer shaped after this natural needle (figure 36
a and h). Sometimes hair or vegetal fiber is substituted for the sinew;
and for certain purposes an agave thorn, with the fibers naturally
attached, serves for needle and thread.

^ A rope-twisting device of the sort commonly employed by Boathwestern Indians was found in use
by Seri boys at Costa Bica in 1894, and was included in the Seri collection; but the indications were
tbat the device was a mere toy used, like the horse-hair riatas made by its aid, only in youthful
sports.

MCQBE] GENESIS OF APPAEELING 231*

Summarily, the customary apparel of Seri men and women may be
regarded as limited to three articles — (1) a kilt, normally of coarse
textile fabric, which is made a prime necessity by a well-developed
pudency; (2) a short wammus, also normally of coarse textile fabric,
which is apparently regarded as a convenience and luxury rather than a
necessity ; and (3) a robe, normally of pelican skin, sometimes substituted
for either or both of the other articles, but ordinarily used as bedding
or as a buckler. The most valued of these articles is the robe, which
in the absence of the others replaces the kilt; yet pudency demands
the habitual use of some form of kilt, while both wammus and robe are
held so far superfluous that they may be laid aside or bartered or
otherwise dispensed with whenever occasion arises.

On considering the special functions and probable genesis of the Seri
appareling, the student is impressed by the absence of the breech-clout,
except perhaps in temporary improvisations — though the absence of this
widespread article of primitive costumery need awaken little surprise
in view of the environment, and especially of the abounding barbs of
Seriland, which render all appareling of doubtful value save for the pro-
tection of tissues softened by habitual covering. The prevailing thorni-
ness of the habitat renders the free-flowing and easily removable apron
"the most serviceable protection for the exposed vitals of the pubic
region; and this device, a common one in thorny habitats generally,
grades naturally into the short skirt or kilt; while it would well accord
with the maritime habit and habitual thought of the Seri to apply the
tough and densely feathered skin of the pelican to the purpose. This
suggestion as to the nascent covering of the tribe . consists with the
tribal faith, in which the Ancient of Pelicans ranks as the creative
deity, while its modern rfepresentative is esteemed a protective tutelary
possessing talismanic powers against cold, wet, bestial claw and fang,
alien arrows, and all other evils; so that the use of this feathered pelt
as a shield against spiny shrubbery, sharp-leaved sedges, and barb-
thorned cacti is quite in harmony with Seri philosophy. Accordingly
it seems clear that the pelican-skin kilt was autochthonous among the
Seri, and that it was the original form of tribal appareling; and it is of
no small significance that the type persists in actual use as well as in
suggestive vestigial forms, such as pelican-down swaddling for infants,
pelican- feather plumes on cradle nets, etc.

The passage from the pelican-skin kilt to the garment of textile fabric
under the slow processes of primitive thought may not be traced confi-
dently, though a strong suggestion arises in the Seri hair-cult (a Sam-
sonian faith not without parallel in far higher culture) under which
mystical powers and talismanic virtues are imputed to the human
pelage. It is in connection with this cult that the Seri locks are so
attentively cultivated and so assiduously preserved and consecrated
to more intimate personal uses in belts, necklaces, and the like; and
although the connecting links have not been found, it is thoroughly

232* THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

in accord with Seri thought to assume that in earlier times the hair
necklaces were expanded into rudimentary apparel in connection with
pelican-skin shields, and after the conquest of vegetal fibers into more
finished garments probably woven partly of hair and worn in such
wise as to supplement the natural pelage in the protection of back,
shoulders, chest, and arms. If the indication of the tribal cult be valid,
it would appear that the wammus was the second piece of apparel in
order of genesis, though the first to be made of artificial fabric; and
it is noteworthy that the suggestion is supported by the form of the
short and free-iiowing garment underlying the flowing tresses of war-
riors and matrons, as well as the vestigial use of human-hair cords for
neckbands and fastening strings; while its, antiquity in comparison
with the textile kilt is indicated by the fact that it is a finished artifact,
evidently fitted to its functions by generations of adjustment.

The step from the making of the wammus to the substituticto of arti-
ficial fabrics for the pelican-skin kilt was an easy and natural one; and
it need only be noted that the transition is still incomplete, since the
feathered pelt is unquestioningly substituted for the fabric whenever
occasion demands, yet that the kilt in some form must be much more
archaic than the wammus, since it is correlated with the pudency sense,i
while the complete garment is not so correlated save in slight and
incipient degree. •

Accordingly the three articles of apparel may be seriated genetically
as (1) the pelican-skin robe, used long as a kilt, and only lately rele-
gated to emergency use and bedding; (2) the well-differentiated wam-
mus of textile fabric with hair-cord fastenings; and (3) the textile kilt,
with or without a 'hair-cord belt. And the three artifacts are local and
presumptively — indeed manifestly — autochthonous, and exemplify the
interdependence of artifacts and environment no less strikingly than
the Seri balsa or basket or jacal.

TOOLS AND THEIR USES

In advanced culture tools are finished products, made and used in
accordance with preconceived designs or established arts for the pro-
duction of commodities; in primal life (as well exemplified by Seri
handicraft) tools are mere by-products incidental to the largely instinc-
tive activities directed toward the maintenance of life. Accordingly,
the tools of advanced culture form the nucleus of industries, while the
designless tools of the prime cluster about the outskirts of industrial

'In this writing the conclusion reached in an unpublished discnssion of the beginning of clothing
is assumed— i. o., that the primal apparel was purely protective, and that the habitual concealment of
portions of the body incidental to its wearing gradually planted, the pudency sense. The germ of
clothing, without attendant pudency, is well illustrated in Karl von den Steinen's observations and
discussions of the Brazllan natives (TJnter den Naturvolkern Zentral-Brasiliens, Berlin, 1894, pp. 190-
199). It is noteworthy that the Seri, more primitive as they are in so many respects than any other
American aborigines known, are much farther advanced than tjie Brazilian natives iu appareling and
its effects on character. The similarities and the differences are alike interesting ; yet in both cases the
costumes reflect environmental conditions and needs with remarkable fidelity.

MCGEE] THE RUDIMENTS OF TOOLS 233*

activities; i. e., in developed industries the tool is a primary factor,
while in nascent industries it.is but a collateral.

The tools of any primitive tribe may be defined as appliances used
primarily in the production of implements and utensils, and incidentally
in preparing food, making habitatious, manufacturing apparel, build-
ing vehicles or vessels, etc — in shbrt, the appliances used in producing
devices for the maintenance of active life. The definition emphasizes
both the dearth and the undifferentiated character of Seri tools; for the
appliances used in the production of devices are exceedingly few, and
are commonly employed also in food-getting or in other vital industries.

Perhaps the most conspicuous general fact in connection with Seri
tools and their uses is the prevalence of natural objects employed
either (1) in ways suggested by natural functions or (2) in ways deter-
mined by the convenience of users ; the former grading into artificial
devices shaped in similitude of natural objects and employed in ways .
suggested by natural functions.

Prominent among the natural objects employed in natural ways are
mandibles of birds, used in piercing pelts and fabrics ; fish spines and
bones, also used as piercers; thorns of cacti and mimosas, used in
similar ways; teeth and horns of game animals, used in rending their
own tissues, and afterward in miscellaneous industrial processes;
together with cane splints; used for incising. Frequently the employ-
ment of such objects is mere improvisation; yet, so far as could be
ascertained through direct observation at Costa Rica, through Mash^m's
incomplete accounts, and through inquiries from residents on the fron-
tier, even the improvisations are made in accordance with regular cus-
tom firmly fixed by associations — quite in the way, indeed, of primitive
life generally, and of the physiologic and psychic processes from which
primitive custom is so largely borrowed. With these objects may be
grouped the turtle-shells and pelican-pelts used as shields against alien
and animal enemies or as protectors against the elements; and the Seri
sages would class with them the deer-head masks and deer-hoof rattles
worn in the dance to at once symbolize and invoke strength and swift-
ness. One of the most striking among the artificial devices of sym-
bolic motive is the piercer, or awl, of wood or bone, shaped in imitation
of the avian mandible; yet still more significant in a vestigial way
(provided the most probable inference as to genesis be valid) is the
hard- wood foreshaft of arrow and harpoon, shaped and used in trench-
ant symbolism of the deadly tooth.

There are two conspicuous classes of natural objects employed in
ways determined largely by the convenience of the users, viz, (a) marine
shells and (&) beach pebbles.

The marine shells applied industrially comprise the prevailing local
genera, Gardium, Mactra, 4-'>'c<^j Ghama, and others. They are used ordi-
narily as drinking-cups, dishes, dippers, receptacles for fats and face-

234* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.akn.17

paints, and as small utensils generally; and they are used nearly as com-
monly for scraping skins, severing animal and* plant tissues, digging
graves and waterholes, propelling balsas, and especially for scraping
reeds and sticks and okatilla stems in the manufacture of arrows, har-
poons, bows, balsas, and jacal-frames — indeed, the seashell is the Seri
familiar, the ever-present handmate and helper, the homologue of the
Anglo-Saxon Jack with his hundred word-compounds, a half-personified
reflex of habitual action and thought. Ordinarily — always, so far as is
known — the shells are used in the natural state, i. e., either in the con-
dition of capture and opening for the removal of the animal, or in the
condition of finding on the beach. For certain purposes the fresh and
sharp-edged shell is doubtless preferable, aud for others the well-worn
specimen (like the paint cup illustrated in plate xxvii) is chosen; but
everything indicates that the need for smoothed shells is met by
selecting wave-worn specimens, and nothing indicates that the value
of the appliance is deemed to be enhanced by wear of use — in fact, the
abundaace of abandoned shells about the rancherias and camp sites,
and over all Seriland for that matter, indicates that the objects are
discarded as easily as they are found along the prolific shores.

Next to the shells, the most abundant industrial appliances of the
Seri are beach pebbles o( cobbles. They are used for crushing shell and
bone, for rending the skins of larger animals, for severing tendons and
splintering bones, as well as for grinding or crushing seeds, uprooting
canes, chopping trees and branches, driving stakes, and for the multi-
farious minor purposes connected with the manufacture of arrows and
balsas aud jacales; they are also the favorite women's weapons in war-
fare and the chase, and are sometimes used in similar wise by the war-
riors. The material for these appliances paves half the shores of Seri-
land, and is available in shiploads; and its use not only illustrates Seri
handicraft in several significant aspects, but illumines one of the more
obscure stages in the technologic development of mankind.

The cobble-stone implements of the Seri range from pebbles to bowl-
ders, and there is a corresponding range in function from light hand-
implements at one end of the series to unwieldy anvils and metates at
the other end. The intermediate sizes are not infrequently utilized,
and are customarily used interchangeably, the smaller of any two used
in conjunction serving as the hand implement and the larger as the
anvil or metate; yet there is a fairly definite clustering of the objects
about two types, a larger and more stationary class, and a smaller and
more portable one.

The Seri designation for the larger stone implement is that applied
to rock generally, viz, ahst (the vowel broad, as in "father"); aud it
seems probable that the term is onomatopoetic, or mimetic of the sound
produced in the use of the implement as a metate, and that its applica-
tion to rocks generally is secondary. The designation applied to the

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SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXVI

THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON

DOMESTIC ANVIL, BOTTOM

MCQEEj THE HUPP AND AHST 235*

smaller implement is hupf or Jcupf {the initial sound explosive, combin-
ing the phonetic values of h and Ic; the vowel nearly as in " put", or like
"go" in "took") ; the term is clearly an onomatope, imitating the sound
of the blow delivered on flesh, on a mass of partially crushed mesquite
beans, etc — indeed, both the word and the sound of the blow seem to
connote food or eating, while regular pounding with the implement
(either in ordinary use or by special design) is a gathering signal. So
far as ascertained, the term is not extended to other objects save poten-
tial implements in the form of suitable pebbles; but it is significant
that there is no distinction in speech — nor in thought, so far as could
be ascertained — between the natural pebble and the wear-shaped imple-
ment.^ The local terms ahst and hupf are explicit and specific, and
without precise equivalents in other known tongues; moreover, the
objects designated are too inchoate in development and hence too pro-
tean in function to be appropriately denoted by the designations of
implements pertaining to more differentiated culture (mortar, metate,
pestle, niuller, mano, etc). Accordingly it seems desirable to retain the
Seri designations.^

A typical specimen of intermediate size, used commonly as an ahst,
but susceptible of employment as a hupf, is illustrated (natural size) in
plates XXXV and xxxvi.^ It is a hard, tough, hornblende-granite or
greenstone, with a few structure-lines brought out by weathering and
wave- wearing. Its weight is 4 pounds 10 ounces (2.10 kilograms); its
form and surface are entirely natural, save for slight battering shown
on the two principal faces and still less conspicuous bruises along one
edge (as imperfectly shown toward the left of plate xxxv). The speci-
men was found in a jacal (illustrated in plate vi) on Eada Ballena,
within a few hours after abandonment, in the position in which it was
hastily left by the last users; it was smeared with blood and fat (which
still remain, as is shown in plate xxxv) and bits of flesh, and bore bloody
finger prints of two sizes — those of a man and those of a woman or
large child; beside it lay the hupf depicted in plate XLii. In its last
use the unwieldly cobble served as an ahst, but the markings on the
edge record use also as a hand implement.

A functionally similar implement is illustrated in plate xxxvii (on
reduced scale; maximum length 8^ inches = 210 cm.). It is of tough

' The failure to discriminate natural objects from artificialized implements produced from such
objects by wear of use is a noteworthy trait of primitire folk. It is conspicuous among the acorn
Indians of California, who fail to apperoeive the manufacture of their own mills and who conceive that
their bowlder mortars and creek-pebble pestles, even when completely artificialized by a generation's
use, are merely found and appropriated ; and a similar state of mind persists among the well-advanced
Papago, who have no conception of making their well-finished mortars and pestles, or even the stone
tomahawks occasionally surviving, but regard the implements as fruits of discovery or treasures-
trove only.

^It should be noted that the terms used in the titles of the accompanying plates are not denotive, but
merely descriptive.

^This, like the other illustrations of the series (except plate Lvr, which is a lithograph, partly proc-
ess and partly handwork), are photo-mechanical reproductions made directly from the objects; all
are natural size unless otherwise specified.

236* THE SEE! INDIANS [eth.ann.17

but slightly vesicular and pulverulent volcanic tu£f, piakish-buff in
color, and weighs 4 pounds 1 ounce (1.84 kilograms). The form and sur-
face are almost wholly natural, save for slight battering about the
larger end and severer battering, with the dislodgmeut of a flake, about
the thinner end; yet the faces are smeared with blood and grease and
flecked with turtle debris, and bear a few marks of hupf blows, as is
shown in the reproduction. This specimen was found at a temporary
camp of a small party on Puuta Miguel, where it had been used in
breaking up a turtle — the camp having been abandoned so precipitately
that a considerable part of the quarry, with this hupf, the ahst illus-
trated in plate liv, the turtle-harpoon shown in figure 20, the half-made
Are, and the flre-sticks used in kindling it, were left behind. The speci-
men is a good example of the cobbles carried into portions of the terri-
tory lacking the material (the camp at which it was found was on the
great sandspit forming the eastern barrier of Boca Inflerno, several
miles from the nearest pebbly shore) ; it is of less specific gravity than
the average rocks of the region, and looks still lighter by reason of its
color and texture. Similar cobbles abound along the eastern coast of
Tiburon, being derived from the immense volcanic masses of Sierra
Kunkaak.

About the more permanent rancherias and on many abandoned sites
lie ahsts usually too heavy for convenient transportation. In the hab-
itable jacales such stones form regular household appurtenances, with-
out which the menage is deemed incomplete; though the implement is
commonly kicked about at random, often buried in debris (perhaps to
be completely lost, and brought to light only by geologic changes, as
demonstrated by the shell-heap of Punta Antigualla), and pressed into
service only in case of need. An exceptionally well-worn specimen of
the kind is illustrated in plate xxxviii (scale oue-half linear; maximum
width measured on base, 9 J inches =235 cm.). The material is a hard,
ferruginous, almost jaspery quartzite, somewhat obscurely laminated.
It weighs 10 pounds 11 ounces (4.85 kilograms). It is a natural slab,
evidently from a talus rather than the shore, its native locus being prob-
ably the western slope of Sierra Seri. The edges and apex are formed
by natural fractures; the most-used face (that shown in the plate) is
a natural stracture plane; the obverse side is partly a similar plane,,
partly irregular; while the base is an irregular fracture, evidently due
to accident after the specimen had been long in use, though the frac-
ture occurred years or decades ago, as indicated by the weathering
of the surfaces. The entire face of the slab is worn and more or less
polished by use as a metate, the wear culminating toward the center
of the base (evidently the center of the original slab), where the hol-
lowing reaches some three-sixteenths of an inch (5 mm.); yet even in
the depths of the incipient basin the polished surface is broken by'
irregular pitting of a sort indicating occasional use as an anvil. The
edges are quite unworn, but the smoother portion of the obverse is

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MCGEE] THE CENTRIPETAL STROKE 237*

worn and polished like the face, though to a less degree. The speci-
men was found at a recently occupied jacal, midway between Punta
Antigualla and Punta Ygnacio; it lay in the position of use, though
half concealed by a choUa thrown over it, with the hupf shown in plate
LVi; it was soaked with fat and smeared with the debris and intestinal
contents of a turtle, as partly shown in the illustration.

The largest ahst seen in Serilaud is illustrated in plates xxxix and
XL, on a scale of one-third linear (its maximum length being 15|'
inches = 395 cm.) ; it is a dark, fine-grained silicious schist or quartzite,
quite obscurely laminated; it weighs 33 pounds 8 ounces (15,20 kilo-
grams). It is a natural slab, probably washed from a talus and slightly
wave- worn; it might have come originally from either the southwestern
flanks of Sierra Seri or the more southerly half of Sierra Kunkaak —
certainly hundreds of similar slabs strew the eastern sbore of Bahia
Kunkaak, while the western shore, especially about Punta Narragan-
sett, would yield thousands. Its artificial features (aside from miscel-
laneous battering) are limited to grinding of the two faces defined by
structure planes. The principal face is abraded into an oblong or
spoon-shape basin, about 8 inches (20 cm.) long, 5 inches ( LC cm.) broad,
and fully three-fourths of an inch (2 cm.) deep, the basin penetrating
two or three laminte of the slab in such wise as to produce the annular
markings faintly shown in plate xxxix; the obverse is slightly rubbed
and ground and somewhat battered, like the face of the preceding
specimen ; and both sides are flecked with a fine but dark flour-like
substance (doubtless derived from grinding mesquite beans, etc) forced
into the texture of the stone by the grinding process. The entire slab
is greasy and blood-stained, while battered spots about the edges and
angles of the principal face record considerable use as an anvil for
breaking up quarry — indeed, shreds of turtle flesh and bits of intes-
tinal debris still lodge in some of the interstices. The specimen was
taken from the old raucheria at the base of Punta Tormenta, where it
had apparently been in desultory use for generations.

A sort of connecting link between ahst and hupf is afforded by elon-
gate beach pebbles, such as that illustrated in plate xli, which lay
beside the large ahst last described, and which bears a few inconspicu-
ous marks of use in slight battering at both ends, with a few shreds of
turtle flesh about the blunter extremity (at the right on the plate).
The specimen is shown natural size; it is of pinkish-gray trachyte (?),
and weighs 1 pound 12 ounces (0.79 kilograms). It is noteworthy
chiefly as an illustration of the Seri mode of seizing and using hand-
implements (a mode repeatedly observed at Costa liica in 1894) ; the
pebble comfortably fits the Caucasian hand, held hammerwise; it is
intuitively grasped. in this way, and when so seized and used with an
outward swing forms an effective implement for bone-crushing, etc, the
natural striking-point being near the free end; but the centripetally
moving Seri invariably seizes the specimen in such manner that the

238* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.a™.17

free end is directed inward, while the thumb laps over the grasped end,
when the strokes are directed downward and inward, the striking-point
being the extreme tip of the free end. A similar specimen is illustrated
in plate xlii. It is of tough and homogeneous hornblende-granite,
somewhat shorter and broader than its homologue, but of exactly the
same weight; it, too, is battered at the ends, but is otherwise quite nat-
ural in form. It was collected at Eada Ballena in conjunction with the
ahst illustrated in plate xxxv; and like that specimen it is soaked with
blood and fat, and bore shreds of flesh when found. Both these elon-
gate cobbles are of interest as representatives of a somewhat aberrant
type; for the favorite form of hupf is shorter and thicker, as shown by
the prevailing shapes, both in use and lying about the jacales— indeed,
the elongate form is seldom used on the coast and never carried into
the interior. •

A typical hupf is illustrated in plate XLiii. The specimen is of fine-
grained, dense, and massive quartzite, its homogeneity being interrupted
only by a thin seam of infiltrated silica and by an obscure structure-plane
brought out by weathering toward the thinner end. Its weight is 1
pound It ounces (0.85 kilogram). In general form and surface the
specimen is an absolutely natural pebble, such as may be found in thou-
sands along the shores of Seriland. Its artificial features are limited
to slight battering about the edges, especially at the thinner end;
partial polishing of the lateral edges by repeated handling (as imper-
fectly shown in the edge view) ; very perceptible polishing of both faces
by use as a grinder; some fire-blackening on both sides; semisaturation
with grease and blood; and the flecks of red face-paint shown in the
reproduction. The specimen was obtained at Costa Eica after some
days' observation of its use. The chief observed functions of this
implement were as follows: (1) Skinning the leg of a partially con-
sumed horse; this was done by means of centripetal (i. e., downward
and inward) blows, so directed that the thinner end fell obliquely on
the tissue, bruising and tearing it with considerable rapidity. (2) Sev-
ering tough tendons already sawed nearly through by rubbing over the
edge of an ahst, the hupf in this case being in the hands of a coadjutor
and used in rather random strokes whenever the tissue seemed par-
ticularly refractory. (3) Knocking off the parboiled hoof of a horse to
give access to the cofiflnbone. (4) Crushing and splintering bones to
facilitate sucking of the marrow. (5) Grinding mesquite beans; the
process being begun by vertical blows with the end of the implement on
a heap of the pods resting on an ahst, continued by blows with the
side, and finished by kneading and rubbing motions similar to those of
grinding on a metate. (6) Pounding shelled corn mixed with slack lime,
in a ludicrously futile attempt to imitate Mexican cookery. (7) Chop-
ping trees; in this case the implement was grasped in the centripetal
manner and used in pounding and bruising the wood at the point of
greatest bending under the pull of a coadjutor. (8) Cleaving and

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MooEE] USES OF THE HUPF 239*

breaking wood for fuel. (9) Dethorning okatilla stems, by sweeping
centripetal strokes delivered adzwise from top toward butt of a bunch
of stems lying on the ground. (10) Severing a stout hair cord; in this
use it was grasped between the knees of a matron squatting on the
ground, while the cord was held in both hands and sawed to and fro
over the use-roughened thinner end. (11) Supporting a kettle (shown
in plate x) as one of the flrestoues used in frontier mimicry of the
Papago custom. (12) Triturating face-paint by pounding and knead-
ing; in one case the specimen served as a hand implement, while in
another case it took the place of the ahst, the ocher lump itself being
struck and rubbed against it. (13) Beating a troop of dogs from a pile
of bedding in a jacal; in this use the implement was held in the custom-
ary manner and used in swift centripetal blows, the matron relying on
her own swiftness and reach and not at all on projection to come within
reach of her moving targets; the blows usually landed well astern,
and were so vicious and vigorous as to have killed the agile brutes
had they chanced to fall squarely — indeed, one blow temporarily par-
alyzed a large cur, which escaped only by running on its fore feet and
dragging its hind quarters. In most of these uses the speciihen was
employed in conjunction with an improvised ahst in the form of a stone
carried from the raneho. Several of the processes, notably those of
tissue-tearing and dog-beating, were executed with a vigor and swift-
ness quite distinct' from the sluggish lounging of the ordinary day-
tide and, indeed, partaking of the fierce exaltation normal to the Seri
chase. When not in use the implement usually lay just within the
open end of the owner's jacal, though it was often displaced and some-
times kicked about the patio for hours. It was one of perhaps a dozeu
similar implements brought across the desert from the coast by as many
matrons. All were regarded as personal belongings pertaining to the
custodians about as definitely as articles of apparel, though rather
freely loaned, especially in the owner's clan. The specimen was pur-
chased from the possessor, who parted from it rather reluctantly,
though with the tacit approval of her clanswomen, at a rate implying
considerable appreciation of real or supposed value. Three or four
other matrons declined to barter their hupfs, either arbitrarily or on
the plea that they were a long way from the source of supply.

A common variety of hupf is illustrated in plate XLiv. It is of
pinkish, slaty tuff of rather low specific gravity, somewhat vesicular
and pulverulent, though moderately hard and tough. It weighs 17
ounces (0.48 kilogram). In form and surface it is essentially a wave-
worn pebble, doubtless derived originally from the volcanic deposits of
Sierra Kunkaak. Its artificial markings are limited to slight battering
about the edges, especially at the thinner end (as shown in the edge
view); slight rubbing, striation, and semipolishing of the smoother
face (shown in the plate) ; a few grease spots and a stain showing use in
crushing sappy vegetal matter, also on this face; and an inconspicuous

240* THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.ann.)7

flre-mark on the obverse. It was found in a recently abandoned jacal
near Campo Navidad. It is one of the three tuff specimens among those
collected, one of a dozen or two seen; perhaps 10 per cent of the
implements observed in Seriland are of this material, and it is signifi-
cant that this ratio is several times larger than the proportion of tuff
pebbles to the entire paving of the beaches, so that the material seems
to be a preferred one. The preference was indeed discovered at Costa
Eica in 1894, where two or three of the more highly prized hupfs were
of this material, and where vague intimations were obtained that it is
especially favored for meal-making, doubtless by reason of the associa-
tion of color and texture — associations that mean much to the primitive
mind, perhaps in suggesting that the grinding is easier when done by
a soft implement. An economic reason for the preference is. easily
found in the lower specific gravity, and hence the greater portability of
a bupf of ordinary size, of this material; but there is nothing to indi-
cate that this economic factor is weighed or even apperceived by the
Seri.

A typical pebble bearing slight marks of use is illustrated in plate
XLV. It is of fine-grained pinkish sandstone, probably tuffaceous, and
is fairly hard and quite tough; it weighs 1 pound 9 ounces (0.71 kilo-
gram). It is wholly natural in form and surface save for slight batter-
ing or pecking on the face illustrated, and for a few stains of grease
and abundant marks of fire. It was found in a fire still burning (and
abandoned withiti a half-hour, as indicated by other signs) two or three
miles inland from Punta Grrani|;a on the Seri trail toward Aguaje
Parilla, whither it had evidently been carried from the coast. •

A fairly conjmon material for both hupfs and ahsts is highly vesicular
basalt grading into pumice stone, the material corresponding fairly with
a favorite metate material among the Mexicans. The rock was not cer-
tainly traced to its source, but seems to come from the northern part
of Sierra Kunkaak. A typical hupf of this material is shown in plate
XL VI; it weighs 1 pound 13 ounces (0.82 kilogram). It is wholly natu-
ral in every respect save for slight grinding and subpolishing, with
some filling of interstices, on both faces. From the slight wear of this
specimen, together with the absence of battering, and from .similar
features presented by others of the class, it maybe inferred that imple-
ments of this material are habitually used only for grinding — for which
purpose they are admirably adapted. The specimen emphasizes the
importance of the hupf in Seri thought, for it was one of a small series
of mortuary sacrifices from a tomb at Pozo Bscalante (ante, p. 290).

Throughout the surveys of Seriland, constant search was made for
cutting implements of stone; and the nearest approach to success was
exemplified by the specimen illustrated in plate xlvii. It is of bluish-
gray volcanic rook (not specifically identified) of close texture and
decided toughness and hardness; it weighs 10 ounces (0.28 kilogram).
In greater part its form and surface are natural, but a projecting por-

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLI

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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLII

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THE HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO., BOSTON

NATURAL PEBBLE USED AS BONE-CRUSHER

MCGEE] AVOIDANCE OF EDGED STONES 241*

tion brought out by weathering on one side is split off, presumably by
intention, and the fractured surface thus produced is partly smoothed
by rubbing, probably in use, though possibly by design. The edges are
more or less battered, especially at the ends, and several rude flakes
have been knocked off, evidently at random and presumably in ordinary
use as an ahst. The smoother face is wholly natural. The specimen
was picked up in a jacal at Eada Ballena, but bore no marks of recent
use.

A tuff implement of suggestively ax-like form is shown in plate XLvm ;
it is firmer and less pulverulent but more vesicular than most imple-
ments of its class; it weighs but 7 ounces (0.20 kilogram). The speci-
men was picked up in a ruinous jacal, which had evidently been occur
pied temporarily within a fortnight, on the summit of the great shell-
mound forming Punta Antigualla. The somewhat indefinite texture
and color render it diflQcult to distinguish between natural and artificial
features; but careful examination indicates that it is wholly natural in
form and in nine-tenths of the surface, and that the ax-like shape
expresses nothing more than accidents of structure and wave-work.
This interpretation is practically established by the slight battering
along the edges and about the smaller end, as illustrated in the edge
view; for this wear of use, which has produced a distinctive surface, is
practically absent from the notches which give the ax-like effect.
Besides the battering, the only artificial marks are ancient fire-stains
on one of the faces. On the whole it is clear that the artificial appear-
ance catching the eye at first glance is purely fortuitous, and that the
specimen is but a natural pebble very slightly modified by ordinary use.

A suggestive specimen is illustrated in plate xlix; it is of purplish-
gray granitoid rock, of decided toughness and considerable hardness,
and weighs 12J ounces (0.35 kilogram). The surface and general form
indicate that it is a natural, pebble entirely without marks of artificial
use; but the regulai* curvature of the principal face (the shape is that
of a segment of a cylinder rounded toward the ends) suggests artificial
shaping, while it was found far in the interior, near Barranca Salina,
whither it must have been carried from the coast. It may possibly be
a fragment of a pestle subsequently wave- worn; but all the probabili-
ties are that it is wholly natural, and that its suggestive features are
fortuitous.

The constant search for chipped or flaked tools which was extended
over nearly all Seriland seldom met the slightest reward; but the speci-
men shown in plate l was deemed of some interest in connection with
the search. It is of hard and tough greenstone, showing obscure and
irregular structure lines, though nearly homogeneous in texture; it
weighs 10 ounces (0.28 kilogram). It is primarily a natural pebble
with form and surface reflecting structure and texture in connection
with wave-action. Its artificial features are limited to the usual slight
battering of the smaller end, still less conspicuous battering or grind-
17 ETH 16

242* THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

ing of the margin about the larger end, slight but suggestive chip-
ping of the thinner edge, inconspicuous hand-wear and polish on the
principal face, and a few obscure scratches or striae on the same face,
as illustrated in the pla,te. The position and character of the flake-
fractures, which are fairly shown in the edge view, indicate that they
were made while the pebble was in use as a bruising or cutting tool,
a use at once suggested to the Caucasian mind by the form of the
pebble; yet it is noteworthy that its thin edge displays less batter-
ing than either end of the object and no more than the opposite and
thicker edge, while it is still more significant that the specimen was
apparently discarded immediately on the modification of form by the
spalling — a modification greatly increasing its eflBciency, as all habit-
ual users of chipped stone tools would realize. The specimen is one
of a large number of examples showing that whenever a hupf is broken
in use it is regarded as ruined, and is immediately thrown away. This
particular specimen is archaic; it was found in the cliff-face of the
great shell-heap at Punta Antigualla, embedded in a tiny stratum of
ashes and charcoal (some of which still adheres, as shown in the black
flecking at the outer end of the striae), associated with scorched clam-
shells, typical Seri potsherds, etc, some 40 feet beneath the surface.

While the great majority of the hupfs are mere pebbles bearing
slight trace of artificial wear, as illustrated by the foregoing examples,
others bear traces of use so extended as to more or less completely
artiflcialize the surface. A typical long-used hupf is depicted in plates
LI and LIT. It is a tough and hard quartzite, dark gray or brown in
color, massive and homogeneous in texture; it weighs 2 pounds 4
ounces (1.02 kilograms). In general form it is a typical wave-worn
pebble of its material, and might be duplicated in thousands along the
shores of Bahia Kunkaak and El Infiernillo ; but fully a third of its sur-
face has been more or less modified by use. The flatter face (plate Li)
is smeared with blood, grease, and charcoal, which have been ground
into the stone by friction of the hand of the user in such manner as to
form a kind of skin or veneer; portions of the face bear a subpolish,
due probably to the hand-rubbing in use; near the center there is a
rough pit about an eighth of an inch (3 mm.) deep, evidently produced
by pecking or battering with metal, while three or four neighboring
scratches penetrating the veneer appear to record ill-directed strokes
of a rather sharp metal point. In the light of observed customs it may
be inferred that this pitting was produced by use of the implement as
an anvil or ahst in sharpening a harpoon-point and fitting it into its
foreshaft. The thinner edge (shown in place Li; that toward the right
in the face view on the same plate) displays considerable battering of
the kind characteristic of Seri hupfs in general; it is smoked and fire-
stained, as shown, while the lower .rounded corner is worn away by
battering to a depth of probably one-fourth inch (5 mm.). The obverse
face reveals more clearly the battering about both corners and edges.

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including the dislodgment of a flake toward the narrower end; but its
most conspicuous feature is a broad subpolished facet (rounding slightly
toward the thinner edge) produced by grinding on a flat-surface ahst.
This face, too, exhibits flre-staining, while the surface beyond the facet—
and to a slight extent the facet itself— is veneered like the other face.
There are a few scratches on this side also, as well as a slight pitting
due to contact with metal. The thicker edge (plate lii) displays con-
siderable battering, especially a recent pitting near the middle evi-
dently due to use as an anvil held between the knees for sharpening a
harpoon point by rude hammering. The specimen was one of a score of
implements lying about the interior of the principal jacal in the great
rancheria at the base of Punta Tormenta (illustrated in plate vii).

A related specimen, though of somewhat aberrant form, is illus-
trated in plate Liii. It is of peculiarly tough and quite hard green-
stone and weighs 2 pounds 1 ounce (0.93 kilogram). Somewhat less
than half of the surface is that of a wave- worn pebble ; the remainder
is either battered out of all semblance to wave- work, or thumb- worn by
long-continued use. The object well illustrates the choice of the most
prominently projecting portion of the hand-implement as the point
of percussion, and consequently the concentrated wear on such por-
tions whereby the object is gradually reduced to better-rounded and
more symmetric form. This specimen displays some minor flaking,
apparently connected with the battering and regarded by the user as
subordinate to the general wear. It was found at Punta Tormenta, con-
cealed in the wall of a jacal, as if preserved for special use.

One of the best-known examples of a use-perfected hupf is illustrated
in plate liv. It is of coarse-grained but massive and homogeneous
granite, similar to that forming Punta Blanca, Punta Granita, and,
indeed, much of the eastern coast of Bahia Kunkaak. It weighs 1
pound 10 ounces (0.74 kilogram). In general form it is just such a
pebble as is produced from this material by wave- wear, and might be
duplicated along the shores in numbers. The artificial surfaces com-
prise (1) both ends, which are battered in the usual manner; (2) both
lateral edges, of which one is slightly battered and worn, while the
other is somewhat battered and also notched, evidently by a chance
blow and the dislodgment of a flake; (3) both faces, which are flattened
by grinding, while one of them (that shown in the plate) is slightly
pitted, evidently by metal- working; so that the natural surface is
restricted to small areas about the corners. The implement was found
at the camp site on Punta Miguel, already noted (page 189), whence a
group of five Seri were frightened by the approach of the 1895 expedi-
tion; it was covered with blood and shreds of turtle flesh, and is still
saturated with grease. Moreover, it is quite confidently identified
(not only by form and material, but especially by the fortuitous notch)
as a hupf seen repeatedly at Costa Eica in 1894; it was the property
of a matron of the Pelican clan (whose portrait appears in plate xxii),

244* THE SERI INDIANS [bjth. ann, 17

who was observed to use it for various industrial purposes, and who
refused to part with it for any consideration,

A still more beautiful example of Seri stone art is depicted in plate
LV. It is of the same homogeneous and coarse-grained granite as the
last specimen, and closely approaches it in dimensions ; it is slightly
longer and broader, but somewhat thinner, and weighs 1 pound 11
ounces (0.77 kilogram); and, except for the absence of the accidental
notch, its artificial features are still more closely similar. The ends
are shghtly battered, as illustrated in the end view at the right of the
plate; the edges are similarly worn, but to a less extent; while both
sides have been symmetrically faceted by use in grinding, the facets
being straight in the longitudinal direction but slightly curved in the
transverse direction, in the shape of the Mexican mano. The specimen
displays well-marked color distinctions between the^ artificially worn
and the natural surfaces, the former being gray and the latter weathered
to yellowish or pinkish-brown; these colors show that something like
two- thirds of the surface is artificial and the intervening third natural;
and the natural portion corresponds in every respect, not only in form
but in condition of surface, with the granite cobbles of Seriland's stormy
shores. Unfortunately the color distinctions, with the limits of facet-
ing and other artificial modifications, are obscure in the photomechan-
ical reproduction ; they are indicated more clearly in the outline draw-
ing oversheet. The specimen is partially saturated with fat, and bears
an ocher stain attesting use in the preparation of face-paint. It was
found carefully wrapped in a parcel with the shell paint-cup illustrated
in plate xxvii, a curlew mandible, two or three hawk feathers, and a
tuft of pelican down (the whole evidently forming the fetish or medicine-
bag of a shamanistic elderwoman), in an out-of-the-way nook in the
wall of an abandoned jacal at Punta Narragansett.

A somewhat asymmetric though otherwise typical hupf is illustrated
in natural colors in plate Lvr. It is of andesite, and may have come
originally either from the extensive volcanics of southern Sierra Seri
or central Sierra Kunkaak; it weighs 1 pound 15 ounces (0.88 kilo-
gram). The general form is that of a wave- worn cobble, and fully one-
third of the surface retains the natural character save for slight
smoothing through hand friction in use. The chief artificial modifica-
tion is the faceting of both sides in nearly plain and approximately
parallel faces, the maximum thickness of material removed from each
side, estimated from the curvature of the adjacent natural surface,
being perhaps three- sixteenths of an inch (5 millimeters) ; in addition,
both ends are battered in the usual fashion, while the thinner and more
projecting edge is battered still more extensively, in a way at once sub-
serving convenient use and tending to increase the symmetry of form.
One of the facets is quite smooth ; the other (that on the right in the
plate) is slightly pitted, as if by use in metal-working. The specimen
is somewhat greasy — the normal condition of the hupf — and bears

BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XLV

NATURAL PEBBLE SLIGHTLY USED AS HAMMER AND ANVIL

MCaEE]

THE TYPICAL HUPF

245*

conspicuous records of its latest uses; both faces (more especially the
pitted one) are stained with sap from green vegetal substance (probably
immature mesquite pods), while one face is brilliantly marked with
ocher in such manner as to indicate that a lump of face-paint was
partially pulverized by grinding on the slightly rough surface. It was
found, together with the ahst illustrated in plate xxxviii, in the rear
of a recently occupied jacal midway between Punta Antigualla and
Punta Ygnacio, cached beneath a thorny cholla cactus uprooted and
dragged thither for the purpose. The trail and other signs indicated
that the jacal had been occupied for a few days and up to within
twenty-four hours by a family group of six or seven persons; that it
was vacated suddenly at or about the time of arrival of the party
of five whose trail was followed by the 1895 expedition from Punta
Antigualla to Punta Miguel (where they were interrupted in the midst
of a meal and frightened to Tiburon); and that the larger party fled
toward the rocky fastnesses of southern Sierra Seri.

Of the foregoing hupfs several are aberrant, and serve merely to
illustrate the prevailing directions of departure from the optimum
form and size of implements. Six of the specimens may be deemed
typical; they are as follows:

Plate No.

Locality

Material

Weight

Condition

i6. Oza.

XI^Ill . -

Costa Rica . _......

Quartzite .
Tuff

1 14 (0.85 kg.).
1 l(.48kg.)...

Nearly natural.
Four-fifths natural.

xov

Campo Navidad

XLVI.....

Pozo Esoalante

Vesicular
lava.

1 13 (.82 kg.) ..

Nearly natural.

LIV

Punta Miguel

Granite . . .

1 10 (.74 kg.)..

One-flfth natural.

Punta Narragansett

....do

1 11 (.77 kg.)..

One-fourth natural.

LVI

South point Sierra
Seri.

Andesite . .

1 15 (.88 kg.) ..

One-third natural.

From these specimens a type of Seri hand implement may easily be
formulated: It is a wave-worn pebble or cobble of (1) granite, quartz-
ite, or other tough and hard rock, (2) tuff, or other light and pulverulent
rock, or (3) vesicular lava; it is of flattened ovoid form, or of biscuit
shape; it weighs a trifle under 2 pounds (about 0.85 kilogram);
originally the form and surface are wholly natural, but through the
chance of use it is modified {a) by a battering of the ends and more
projecting edges, and (6) by grinding and consequent truncation of
the sides ; though initially a natural pebble, chosen nearly at random
from the beach, it eventually becomes personal property, acquires
fetishistic import, and is buried with the owner at her death.

The ahsts and the heavier cobbles used alternatively as ahsts and
hupfs are too fortuitous for reduction to type; while the protean peb-

246*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ASN, 17

bles utilized in emergency, and commonly discarded after a single use,
are too numerous and too various for convenient or useful grouping.

There is a distinctive type of Seri stone artifacts represented by a
single category of objects, viz, chipped arrowpoints. Several of the
literary descriptions of the folk— particularly those based on second-
hand information and far-traveled rumor— credit the Seri with habitual
use of stone-tipped arrows,^ and it is the current fashion among both
Mexican and Indian residents of Sonora to ascribe to the Seri any
shapely arrowpoint picked up from plain or valley; yet the observa-
tions among the tribesmen and in their haunts disclose but slight basis
for classing the Seri with the aboriginal arrow-makers of America.

Among the 60 Seri (including 17 or 18 warriors) atOosta Eica in 1894,
three bows and four quivers of arrows were observed, besides a number
of stray arrows, chiefly in the hands of striplings. The arrows seen
numbered some 60 or 70, including perhaps 20 "poisoned" specimens;

nearly half of them were tipped with
hoop-iron, as illustrated in plate xxx,
while about as many more were fitted
only with the customary foreshafts
(usually sharpened and hardened by
charring), and the small remainder had
evidently lost iron tips in use ; there was
not a single stone-tipped arrow in the
rancheria. Moreover, when the usually
incisive and confident Mash^m was
asked for the Seri term for stone arrow-
point he was taken aback, and was
unable to answer until after lengthy
conference with other members of the tribe — his manner and that of
his mates clearly indicating ignorance of such a term rather than the
desire to conceal information so frequently manifested in connection
with esoteric matters; and the term finally obtained (ahst-ahTc, conno-
ting stone and arrow) is the same as that used to denote the arrowpoint
of hoop-iron. The most reasonable inference from the various facts is
that whatsoever might have been the customs of their ancestors, the
modern Seri are not accustomed to stone arrow-making.

The 1895 expedition was slightly more successful in the search for
Seri arrows. About midway between the abandoned Eanclio Libertad
and Barranca Salina, an ancient Seri site was found to yield hundreds
of typical potsherds, half a dozen shells such as those used for utensils,
the fragments of a hupf evidently shattered by use as a fire-stone, and
the small rudely chipped arrowpoint shown in figure 37a; and among
the numerous relics found on a knoll overlooking Pozo Escalante
(including two jacal frames, two or three graves, an ahst, several shells

Fig. 37 — Seri arrowpoints.

1 The most specific reference is that of Hardy : " The men use bows and stone-pointed arrows ; but
■whether they are poisoned, 1 do not know." Travels, p. 290.

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248* " THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.amn.IT

brought in a cargo of large wire, and a piece of door-frame with heavy
strap-iron hinges attached with screws, were among the troves of the
tribesmen within a few weeks; and it was noted that while even the
hinge screws and the tacks attaching tags to the cask-heads had been
extracted by breaking up the wood, the roughly forged hinges of
2 by f -inch wrought iron had been abandoned after a tentative battering
with cobbles, and lay among the refuse stones about the jacales.

A rough census of the stone implements of Seriland is not with-
out interest, even though it be no more than an approximation.
Some 20 or 25 habitable and recently inhabited jacales were visited,
with about twice as many more in various stages of ruin, fully two-
thirds of these being on the island; and at least an equal number of
camps or other houseless sites were noted. About these 150 jacales
and sites there were, say, 50 ahsts, ranging from nearly natural bowl-
ders to the comparatively well- wrought specimen illustrated in plate
XXXIX, and an equal number of cobbles used interchangeably as ahsts
and hupfs; there were also 200 or 300 pebbles bearing traces of use as
hupfs, of which about a third were worn so decidedly as to attest
repeated if not regular use; while no flaked or spalled implements were
observed save the two doubtful examples illustrated in plates xlyii
and L, and only two chipped arrowpoints. It may be assumed that
the sites visited and the artifacts observed comprise from a tenth to a
fifth of those of all Seriland, in addition to, say, 75 finished hupfs
habitually carried by Seri matrons in their wanderings; and it may be
assumed also that 50 or 100 metallic harpoon-points and several hundred
hoop-iron arrowpoints^ are habitually carried by the warriors and their
spouses.

The most impressive fact brought out by this census is the practical
absence of stone artifacts wrought by flaking or chipping in accord-
ance with preconceived design ; excepting the exceedingly rare arrow-
points there are none of these. And the assemblage of wrought stones
demonstrates not merely that the Seri are practically without flaked
or chipped implements, but that they eschew and discard stones edged
by fracture whether naturally or tiirough accident of use.

Summarily, the Seri artifacts of inorganic material fall into three
groups, viz : (i) The large and characteristic one comprising regularly-
used hupfs and ahsts, with their little-used and discarded representa-
tives ; (ii) the small and aberrant group represented by chipped arrow-
points, and (III) the considerable group comprising the cold-wrought
metal points for arrows and harpoons and awls — though it is to be
remembered that the Seri themselves combine the second and third of
these groups.

I. On reviewing the artifacts of the larger group it becomes clear (1)
that they immediately reflect environment, in that they are character-
istic natural objects of the territory; (2) that they come into use as
implements through chance demands met by hasty selection from the

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abundant material; (3) that the great majority of the objects so em-
ployed are discarded after a use or two; (4) that when the object
proves especially serviceable, and other conditions favor, it is retained
to meet later needs; (5) that the retained objects are gradually modi-
fled in form and surface by repeated use; (6) that if the modification
diminishes the serviceability of the object in the notion of the user
(e. g., by such fracture as to produce sharp edges), it is discarded; (7)
that if the modification enhances the serviceability of the specimen in
the mind of the user it is the more sedulously preserved; and (8) that
through the instinctive desire for perservation, coupled with the thau-
maturgio cast of primitive thinking, the object acquires at once an
artiflcialized form and a fetishistic as well as a utilitarian function.
The significant feature of the development is the total absence of
foresight or design, save in so far as the concepts are fiducial rather
than technical or directly industrial.

II. On reviewing the almost insignificantly small group of chipped
stone artifacts, it seems clear that while the material is local the
design is so incongruous with custom and characteristic thought as to
raise the presumption that stone-chipping is an alien and imperfectly
assimilated craft. The conspicuous and- significant feature of the
chipped stone artifact is the shapement in accordance with precon-
ceived design.

III. On reviewing the arbitrarily separated group of metallic arti-
facts it is found clear (1) that the material is foreign; (2) that it is
avidly sought and sedulously saved and utilized; (3) that it is wrought
only by the crude methods used for fashioning the most primitive of
implements and tools; and (4) that it is used chiefly as a substitute for
organic substances employed in symbolic imitation of the natural
organs and functions of animals. The significant features of the use of
iron artifacts are (a) the absence of either alien or specialized designs,
and (6) the mimicry of bestial characters as conceived in primitive
philosophy.

Classed by material and motive jointly, the three groups are diverse
in important respects : The first is local in material, local in motive;
the second is local in material, foreign in design; the third is foreign
in material, local in motive.

On recapitulating the several phases of Seri handicraft, the devices
are found to fall into genetic classes of such sort as to illumine certain
notable stages of primitive technic.

The initial class comprises teeth, beaks and mandibles, claws, hoofs,
and horns, used in imitation or symbolic mimicry of either actual or
imputed function of animals, chiefly those to which the organs pertain,
together with vegetal spines and stalks or splints, used similarly under
the zootheistic imputation of animal powers to plants; also carapaces
and pelts, used as shields combining actual and symbolic protective
functions. While this class of devices is well displayed by the Seri, it
is by no means peculiar to them ; clear vestiges of the devices have

250* THE SERI INDIANS [bth. ann. 17

been noted among many Amerind tribes. Now the essential basis of the
industrial motive has been recognized by all profounder students in zoo-
theism, animism, or hylozoism — indeed, the industrial stage is but the
reflex and expression of the zootheistic or hylozoic plane in the devel-
opment of philosophy; while both the devices and the cultural stage
which they represent have already been outlined by the late Frank
Hamilton Gushing, on the basis of surviving vestiges and prehistoric
relics, and characterized as "prelithic".' Oushing's designation for
the initial stage of technic has the merit of euphony, and of suggest-
ing the serial place of the stage in industrial development; but since
it denotes a most important class of artifacts only by exclusion and
negation it would seem desirable to supplement it by a positive term.
The class of devices (considered in both material and functional
aspects) and the cultural stage in general might appropriately be
styled hylozoic, though it would seem preferable* to emphasize the
actual objective basis of the class and stage by a specific designation —
and for this purpose the term aoomime^^e (from Z(^ov, to and /xi/xi^tikos),
or its simplified equivalent, zoomimic, would seem acceptable.

A transitional series of devices is represented by awls of wood or
iron fashioned in imitation of mandibles or claws, by wooden foreshafts
shaped in symbolic mimicry of teeth, and by other vicarious replace-

1 The Development of Form and Function in Implements ; an unpublished paper presented before
the British Association for the Advancement of Science at the Toronto meeting in 1897. A brief
abstract, revised by the author of the paper, was printed in the American Anthropologist, vol. x, 1897.
pp. 325-326; and in the absence of full authorial publication, the more strictly germane passages of
the abstract are worthy of quotation : "Beginning with the semiarboreal [human] progenitor indi-
cated jointly by projecting forward the lines of biotio development and projecting bacliward the lines
of human development, Mr Gushing undertook to trace hypothetically, yet by constant reference to
known facts, (1) the genesis of artificial devices, and (2) the concurrent differentiation of the human
brain and body in the directions set forth by Sir William Turner; and he gave special force to his
exposition by frequent reference to commonly neglected characteristics, physical and psychic, of
young infants. He pointed out that the prototype of man, whether infantile or primitive, is a clumsy
ambidexter, the differentiation of hand and brain remaining inchoate ; that one of the earliest artifi-
cial processes is a sawing movement, in which, however, the object to be severed is moved over the
cutting edge or surface, and that the infant or savage at first selects sharp objects (teeth, shells, etc)
as cutting implements, and only after long cultivation learns to make cutting implements of stone;
this early stage in development he called prelithic. Passing, then, to the age of stone, he showed that
this substance is first in the form of natural pebbles or other pieces for hammering, crushing, bruis-
ing, and as a missile. That in time the user learns that the stone is made more effective for severing
tissues by fracturing it in such way as to give a sharp edge, the fracture being originally accidental
and afterward designed; yet that for a long time it is the hammerstone that is fractured and not the
object against which the blows are directed. In this stage of development (called protolithic, after
McGee) stone implemeats come into more or less extended use in connection with implements of
shell, tooth, etc ; yet the implements are obtained by choice among natural pieces and by undesigned
improvement of these through use. The next stage is that of designed shaping through frac-
ture by blows from a hammerstone, followed by intentional chipping. This may be regarded aa
the beginning of paleolithic art, and also marks the beginning of dexterity and the activital
differentiation of the hands. Incidentally the author brought out the importance of that con-
cept of mysticism which is found of so great potency among Infantile and primitive minds, in such
manner as to suggest the genesis, and the obscure reasons for the persistence of this phase of intel-
lectuality i for the inchoate imagination is able to expand only in the direction of mystical explana^
tion, so that fertility in primitive invention seems to be dependent on appeal to the mysterious powers
of nature. At first the mystery pervades all things, but in time it is largely concentrated in animate
things ; then animate powers are imputed, e.g., to physical phenomena. So to the infant or race-child
fire is a mystical animal or demon which, in prelithic or protolithic times, must have been at first
tolerated, then fed with fuel and punished with water and eventually subjugated and tamed, much
as the real animals were afterward brought into domestication."

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"°'*™] GENESIS OF IMPLEMENTS 251*

ments of material in devices of zoomimio motive; but this series may
be regarded as constituting a subclass, or as a connecting link between
classes rather than a major class of devices. Yet the subclass is of
great significance as a mile-mark of progress in nature-conquest, and
as the germ of that industrial revolution consummated as tribesmen
grew into reliance on their own acumen and strength and skill rather
than on the capricious favor of beast-gods.

The next major class of devices comprises shells and cobbles and
bowlders picked up at random to meet emergency needs, wielded in
ways determined byemergency adjustment of means to ends, and some-
times retained and reused under the budding instinct of fitness, though
never shaped by design. The devices of this class are best exemplified
by the tool-shells and by the hupfs and ahsts of the Seri matrons, partly
because of the practical absence of higher artifacts from their territory;
yet the class is by no means confined to this notably primitive folk :
the greater part of the implements used by the California Indians and a
large part of those used by every other known Amerind tribe in aborigi-
nal condition consist of shore cobbles, river pebbles, talus bowlders, or
other natural stones of form and size convenient for emergency use;
and (despite the fact that such objects are often ignored by observers,
for the prosaic reason that they represent no familiar or trenchant
class), there is no lack of evidence that they are or have been in habit-
ual use among all primitive peoples. Although zootheistic or sortilegic
motives doubtless play an undetermined r61e in the selection of the
objects, and although wonted zoomimic movements doubtless affect the
initial processes, the essential distinction from zoomimic artifacts
resides in the selection and use of natural objects through a mechanical
chance tending to inspire volitional exercise rather than through a
fiducial rule tending to paralyze volitional effort; while the class is no
less trenchantly separable from those of higher grade by the absence
of preconceived models or technical designs. The class of devices and
the culture-stage which they represent have already been outlined and
defined as protolithic.^

A transitional series of devices allied to the Seri hupf on the one
hand and to the chipped artifact on the other hand is frequently found
among the aborigines of California and other native tribes ; it is typified
by a cobble or other natural piece of stone cleft (first by accident of use
and later by design ) in such wise as to afford an edged tool. This subclass
of artifacts is religiously eschewed by the Seri; but it is of much inter-
est as an illustration of the way in which artificialization proceeds, and
of the exceeding slowness of primitive progress.

The third great class of devices defined by technologic development
comprises stones chipped, flaked, battered, ground, or otherwise
wrought in accordance with preconceived designs, together with cold-
forged native metal, horn, bone, wood, and other substances wrought

■American Anthropologist, vol. ix, 1896, pp. 317-318.

252*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

in accordance with preconceived models and direct motives. Among
the Seri this class of devices is represented only by the rare arrowpointa
of chipped stone, which seem to be accultural and largely fetishistic;
but the class is abundantly represented by the artifacts of most of the
Amerind tribes. The class and the cultural stage have already been
outlined under the term teclmoliihic?

A transitional series of devices intervenes between stone artifacts
and artifacts of smelted metal; it is represented by malleable native
metals (chiefly copper, silver, meteoric iron, and gold), originally
wrought cold, after the manner of stone, though heating under the
hammer in such wise as to prepare the way for forging, fusing, and
founding. These devices and the processes with which they are cor-
related are not represented among the Seri; indeed, the crude use of
iron by the tribe would seem to lie on a lower plane in industrial
development than even the arrowpointchipping, in that the artifacts,
though of foreign material, are wrought largely in accordance witti
zoomimic motives.

The fourth major class of devices, comprising the multifarious artifacts
of smelted and alloyed metal, was barely represented in aboriginal
America; only a few of the more advanced tribes had attained the
threshold of metallurgy, and even among these the crude metal work-
ing remained hieratic or esthetic, and did not displace the prevalent
stone craft.

Briefly, the several stages in the development of tools and imple-
ments may be seriated as follows :

stages

Typical materials

Typical products

Essential ideas

1. Zoomimic

Bestial organs

Awls, spears, har-
poons, arrows.

Zootheistic faith.

A. Transitional

Symbolized organs

Piercing and tear-
ing implements.

Faith + craft.

2. Protolithio

Natural stones

Hammers and grind-

Mechanical chance.

ers— li u p f s and

ahsts.

B. Transitional

Cleft stones

Grinders and cutters

ChancB + craft.

' Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1898, pp. 42-43. The long extant and well-known
classification of stone artifacts as "paleolithic" and "neolithic" may not be overlooked. This classi-
floation was based originally on prehistoric relics of Europe, and it served excellent purpose in dis-
tinguishing finely finished stone implements from those of rudely chipped stonei but both classes of
artifacts were shaped in accordance with preconceived design, and. hence both belong to the techno-
llthio class as herein defined. It may be. added that the classification was made with little if any
reference to primitive thought, was not based on observation among primitive peoples, and has not
been found to apply usefully to the aborigines and aboriginal artifacts of America, where the repre--
sentative-tribe or prehistoric village site is characterized by implements of both "paleolithic" and
"neolithic" types which intergrade in such manner as to prove contemporaneous manufacture and
interchangeable uisci while the preponderance of polished-stone implements is generally indicative of
simpler rather than of more advanced culture.

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stages

Typical materials

Typical products

Essential ideas

3. Technolithio

Artifioialized

Chipped, battered,

Designed shape-

stones.

and polished im-

ment by molar

plements.

action.

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metals.

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Smelted ores

Steel tools, etc

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molar and molec-

ular action.

It is to be realized that the successive stages represent characteristic
phases of normal and continuous growth, and hence that their relations
are intimate and complex. The fundamental factor of the growth is
intellectual advancement, and hence in actual life each stage is at once,
the germ and the foundation for the next higher; each stage is charac-
terized by a type or a cognate series of types, yet each commonly con-

!FiG. 38— Diagrammatic outline of industrial development.

tains a few forms prophetic of the next stage and many forms vestigial
of the earlier stages; so that the stages are to be likened unto successive
generations of organisms, or (still more appropriately) to the successive
phases of ovum, larva, pupa, and imago in the ontogeny of the insect
rather than to the arbitrary classes of pigeonhole arrangements. The
complex relations conceived to exist among the stages can be indicated
more clearly by diagraphic representation than by typographic arrange-
ment, and such a representation is introduced as figure 38. The succes-
sive curves in the diagram express the rhythmic character of progress
and the cumulative value of its interrelated factors, as well as the domi-
nance of successive types until gradually sapped and absorbed (though
not immediately or completely annihilated) by higher types reflecting
a strengthened mentality.

The place of the normal pacific industries of the Seri in this genetic
classification of human technic is definite. The Seri craft combines the
features of the zoomimic and protolithic stages more completely than
that of any other known folk, and in such wise as to reveal the relations

254* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

between these stages and that next higher in the series with unparal-
leled clearness; their craft also displays an aberrant (and hence pre-
sumptively accultural) feature pertaining to the technolithic stage; and
in so far as their craftsmen use the material typical of the age of metal
they degrade it to the transitional substage between dominant zoomim-
icry and designless stone-using.

Viewed in the general light of their pacific industries, the Seri are,
accordingly, among th^ most primitive of known tribes; their technic is
in harmony with their esthetic, and also with their somatic and tribal
characteristics, in attesting a lowly plane of development; while their
industries, like their other demotic features, are essentially autoch-
thonous.

WARFARE

Something is known of Seri warfare through the history of the cen-
turies since 1540, and especially through the bloody episodes of the
Bncinas regime and the occasional outbreaks of the last decade or two.
The available data clearly indicate that the warfare of the tribe comple-
ments their pacific industries in every essential respect.

As befits their primitive character, warfare has played an important
r61e in the history of the folk, forming, indeed, one of the chief factors
in determining the course of tribal development. There is no means of
estimating the losses suffered and occasioned in warfare with the neigh-
boring tribes during either prehistoric or historic times; but the indi-
cations are that they were much greater than the losses connected with
Caucasian contact. Neither is it practicable to estimate reliably the
fatalities attending the interminable conflicts with the Spanish invaders
and their descendants, though it is safe to say that the Seri losses in
strife against Spaniards and Mexicans aggregate many hundred, and
that the correlative loss on the part of their enemies reaches several
score, if not some hundred, lives. Few if any other aboriginal tribes of
America have had so sanguinary a history as the Seri, and none other
has at once so long and so bloody a record.

According to the consistent accounts of several survivors of con-
flict with the Seri, their chief weapons are arrows, stones, aiyi clubs —
though several survivors manifest greater fear of the throttling hands
and rending teeth of the savage warriors than of all their artificial
weapons combined. A striking feature of the recitals, indeed, is the
rarity of reference to weapons; the ambushes or surrounds or chance
meetings, with their disastrous or happy consequences, are commonly
described with considerable detail; the carbines or rifles, the machetes
and knives, or the deftly thrown riatas employed by the rancheros or
vaqueros are mentioned with full appreciation of their serviceability;
but the ordinary expressions concerning the despised yet dreaded Seri
are precisely those employed in recounting conflicts with carnivorous
beasts. When Andres Soriega's kinswoman proudly related how he

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"'^^^^l INCONSPICUOUSNESS OF WEAPONS 256*

alone once overawed and routed an attacking party of 30 Seri warriors,
she duly mentioned the carbine ready for use in his hands and the
six-shooter and machete in his belt; but nothing was said of the Seri
weapons. When a distinguished sportsman citizen of Caborca, the
local authority on the Seri, sought to dissuade the 1895 expedition from
visiting Tiburou, he was repetitively and cumulatively emphatic in his
oracular forecast, " lis vont vons tuer ! lis vont vous tuerU Ils vont
vousTUEE ! ! !"— yethemadebutpassingreferenceto"poisoned"arrDws,
and none to other weapons, in the general implication that invaders of
the tribal territory were torn limb from limb and strewn over the rocks
and deserts of Seriland. When Jesus Omada, of Bacuachito, boasted
his Seri scars, he indeed emphasized the arrow-mark on his breast, but
only as a prelude and foil to the far ghastlier record of his teeth-torn
arm. When Eobinson and his companion were butchered on Tiburon
in 1894, the bloody work was effected chiefly by means of a borrowed
Winchester; and neither the account of the survivors nor that of the
actors made mention of native weapons — save the stones with which the
second victim was finished according to the local version. In short,
most of the casual expressions and fuller recitals alike indicate that
while the Seri are famous fighters their weapons— except the much-
dreaded "poisoned" arrows— are incidents rather than essentials to
savage assaults, and tljat their prowess rests primarily on bodily the
strength and swiftness.

The stones used in battle, as described by the survivors and as inti-
mated by Mash^m, are cobbles as large as a fist, i. e., hupfs of typical
form and size. So far as is known they are never hurled, slung, nor pro-
jected in any other manner, nor are they hafted or attached to cords
after widespread aboriginal customs; they are merely held in the hand,
as in the slaughter of quarry. Hardy made note of a war-club — " They
use likewise a sort of wooden mallet called Macdna, for close quarters
in war" ; ' but nothing of the kind was found at Costa Eica in 1894, and
no woodwork suggesting such use was found in the depths of Seriland
in 1895.

The most conspicuous and doubtless the most effective war weapon
is the arrow projected from the bow in the unusual if not unique fashion
already noted (ante, p. 201). There is nothing to indicate that the Seri
are especially effective archers ; the facts (1) that a large part of the
arrows are pointless, save for the hard-wood foreshafts; (2) that stone
arrowpoints are not habitually used; and (3) that comparatively slight
reference is made to the use of arrows in records and recitals of Seri
battles, tend on the contrary to indicate inferior ability in archery.
And in the course of the explorations by the 1895 expedition it was
noted that the feral fowls and animals of Seriland — pelican, gull, snipe,
curlew, cormorant, coyote, hare, bura, mountain sheep, peccary, etc —
displayed little fear of human figures at distances exceeding 75 yards,

'Travels, p. 290.

256* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.aito.IT

and seldom stirred until the stranger approached within 50 or 60 yards;
whence it may be assumed that these distances fairly indicate the ordi-
nary range of Seri arrows. The few accounts of conflicts in which
arrows are mentioned prove, however, that those missiles are discharged
with great rapidity and in considerable numbers during the brief inter-
val to which the fighting is customarily limited.

The most notorious feature of the Seri warfare, and that of deepest
interest to students, is the reputed use of poisoned arrows. The scat-
tered literature of the tribe, from the days of Oorouado onward, abounds
in references to this custom; the Jesuit authorities give somewhat
varied yet fairly consistent descriptions of the preparation and the
eflects of these arrows; Hardy added his testimony as to the character
of the poison; General Stone gave directly corroborative evidence;
haciendero Bncinas gives witness to the effects of the envenomed mis-
siles on his own stock ; while Mash^m recounted to "the 1894 expedition
the various uses of the "poisoned" arrows and highly extolled their
potency, though he was noncommittal — save in casual allusions — as to
the details of the poisoning. A part of the arrows acquired by this
expedition and now preserved in the National Museum were professedly
poisoned; they are easily distinguished by a thin varnish of gummy
and greasy substance over the iron tips and wooden foreshafts, and
especially about the attachments of mesquite gum and sinew. Accord-
ing to Mash^m's asseverations, such arrows are habitually used in war
save when the supply is exhausted by continued demand; they are
also used occasionally in hunting, especially for deer and lions (i. e.,
the swiftest and fiercest game of the region); and the use of the
poisoned missile does not destroy the meat of the animal, though the
portion immediately about the wound is "thrown away". Two of
the treated arrows brought back from Costa Rica were submitted to
Dr S. Weir Mitchell some months afterward for examination, and for
identification of any poisonous matter found on them ; but no poison
was detected. On the whole, the data concerning the reputed arrow
poisoning are less definite than might be desired ; yet they are sufficient
to suggest the nature of the custom with considerable clearness.

In any consideration of Seri customs it is to be realized that the
folk are notably primitive in thought, and hence deeply steeped in that
overweening mysticism which dominates all lowly folk — that they stil]
cling to zoomimic motives in their simple handicraft, and are still wholly
within zootheism in their lowly faith. In the light of this realization
the numerous consistent records of the preparation of the poison are
easily interpreted, and are found to be fully in, accord, with the pre-
vailing motives of the tribe; and the interpretation serves to explain
the somewhat discrepant accounts of the effects of the poison, effects
ranging from nil to horrible sepsis. According to the more circum-
stantial recipes, the first constituent of the poison is a portion of lung,
preferably human — a selection readily explained by pristine philosophy,

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"'"'™1 THE AREOW-CHAEMING 257*

in which the breath is life, and the lungs at once the seat and' the
symbol of vitality. Naturally the fleshly symbol is from a dead body;
and just as the lung denotes vitality in life, so (in primitive thought) it
denotes an emphasized, as it were an incarnated, antithesis of vitality
in death. Next, as the recipes continue, this death-symbol is exposed
to the most potent agencies of death— to the bites of maddened rattle-
snakes, to the stings of irritated scorpions, to the veiiomed trailings of
harried centipedes. Then the deadly creatures are themselves killed,
and the fanged heads of the serpents, the stinging tails of the scor-
pions, and the fiery feet of the centipedes, together with portions of
redolent ordure from the grave-cairns, and other symbols of death and
decay are crushed and macerated with the mass in a wizard's brew,
grewsome beyond the emasculated and degraded witch's broth of
medieval times. Finally, the grisly mess is allowed to simmer in a
stinkpot^ shell under the fierce desert sun until its ripeness and putrid
potency are attested by the rank fetor of death; when it is ready fgr its
ruthless use. Thus the entire recipe is thaumaturgicin concept, necro-
mantic in detail ; it represents merely the malevolent machinations of
the medicineman seeking success by spells and enchantments; it
stands for no rational system of thought or practice, but pertains
wholly to the plane of shamanism and sorcery. So interpreted the
recipe is readily understood; the^ several witnesses who have inde-
pendently obtained it are justified, and Mash^m's details and unwilling
intimations are made clear — especially if the sacrificed flesh about the
wound in deer or lion be deemed an oblation, such as primitive folk are
given to making.

While thus the motive of the medicine-man in compounding his
loathsome mess is wholly necromantic, serious consequences of its use
must occasionally supervene; and though these may be incidental so far
as the philosophy is concerned, they may tend reflexly toward the
perpetuation of the custom. In the course of the preparation of the
charm-poison, and especially in the final ripening process, morbific
germs and ptomaines must be developed; these may retain their viru-
lence up to the time of use, particularly when a batch of poison is
prepared for a special occasion and the arrows are used while the api^li-
cation is still fresh; and in such cases the wound might initiate septi-
cemia of the sort described in Gastaueda's early narrative and still
more clearly displayed by Sefior Encinas' saddle-horse (ante, p. 112).
Naturally the incidentally zymotic varnish freo'iently fails of effect,
and can hardly be expected to remain morbific long enough to be
detected in laboratory experiments; yet it is probable, as attested by
Mash^m's guarded expressions, that the occasionally terrible results of
such poisoning are within the ken of the Seri shamans.

It is noteworthy that the various early accounts of the Seri arrow-
poisoning are strikingly consistent, though sufficiently diverse to

« 'Cinosternum sonorense (?}.

17 ETH 17

258* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.IT

attest independence in origin; it is also noteworthy tbat several of. the
accounts are given hesitatingly and half qualifledly, with alternative
references (obviously hypothetical) to vegetal sources of poison. Thus
the author of "Eudo Ensayo" qualified a characteristic (though brief)
account of the preparation of the poison by adding: " But this is mere
guesswork, and no doubt the main ingredient is some root."^ So, too,
Hardy described the compounding of the brew in much detail, adding
the significant statement that "when the whole mass is in a high state
of corruption the old women take the arrows and pass their points
through it"; yet he could not resist the alternative hypothesis, and
added: "Others again say thatthe poison is obtained from the juice of
the yerba de la fl6cha (arrow-wort)."^ Bartlett " was told that the Ceris
tip their arrows with poison; but how it was effected I [he] could not
learn," and so he contented himself with quoting Hardy's account.'
Stone gave the recipe in fairly similar terms, adding that the morbific
mass is hung up "to putrefy in a bag, and in the drippings of this bag .
they soak their arrowheads"; and he gave a characteristic account
of the effect of a wound from a poisoned arrow on a human subject
(ante, p. 100). Pajeken independently attested the virulence of the
poison, and described the consequences of a slight wound suffered by
his horse (ante, p. 101), while Pimentel gave independent corroboration,
and Orozco y Berra added the further information that the proverbially
deadly poison is fortified "by superstitious practices" (ante, p. 103).
Bancroft gave currency to the pustomary recipe, and also to the comple-
mentary hypothesis that the "magot" maybe the source of the poison;
while Dewey merely mentioned the reputed use of poisoned arrows.
Like their predecessors, the vaqueros of today are familiar with the
tradition of a necromantic brew ; but many of them — like Don Jesus
Omada, of Bacuachito, and Don Eamon Noriega, of Pozo Noriega —
display a much more lively interest in the local yerba mala, or yerba
de li^cha, of which they stand in such mortal dread that they can
hardly be induced to approach a clump of it, and which they conceive
must add the final crux to the brew. This plant was described in
"Eudo Ensayo" : "Mago, in the Opata language, is a small tree, very
green, luxuriant, and beautiful to the eye; but it contains a deadly
juice which flows upon making a slight incision in the bark. The
natives rub their arrows with it, and for this reason they call it arrow-
grass; but at present they use very little."* Elsewhere the anonymous
author mentions the use of (presumably) this poison by the Jova, and
describes it as " so deadly that it kills not only the wounded person,
but also him who undertakes the cure by sucking the wound, as is
customary with all the Indians"; the description implying that the
infection is irremediable.^ Yet he apparently discriminated this poison
from that of the Seri, for which another plant known as caramatraca

> Op. oit., p. 198 i of. ante, p. 78. ' Travels, p. 299 j cf. ante, p. 87.

'Personal Narrative, p. 465. * Op. oit., p. 161.

S0p.cit.,pp.l87,188.

"^°'=''l REPUTED VEGETAL POISONS 259*

is an infallible remedy. On the whole it seems probable that the yerba
mala {Sebastiano Ulocularisf), or yerba de fl^cha, or mago, or magot,
yielded or formed the standard arrow-poison of the Opata and perhaps
of other Indians, and that the ill-repute of the shrub survived and
spread throughout Mexicanized Sonera in such frequent repetition and
common belief as to affect the ideas of residents and travelers alike;
but it seems equally probable that the magic-inspired brew of the Seri
is entirely distinct.'

As suggested by widespread primitive customs, and as illustrated
specifically by the arrow-charming, the warfare of the Seri is largely
sortilegic, this feature being but an extension and magnification of a
corresponding feature of their hunting customs. The economic object
of the chase is, of course, the flesh of the quarry; but the hunt normally
begins with invocatory or other fiducial ceremonies, culminates in a
feast opened with oblations, and ends in the use of horns or hoofs, teeth
or bones, mane or tail, as talisman-trophies — primarily pledges of
fealty to the favorable potencies, only secondarily symbols of success.
The observances illumine the ever-present esoteric object of the chase,
whicli is to gain the favor or overcome the power of the beast-god
represented by the animal hunted; in general, this is sought to be
effected through mimetic movements, or symbolic objects, associated
with that animal-kind, and the retained charm-trophy is valued as
a symbol of the placation or outwitting of a particular deity. Simi-
larly, the Seri warrior strives for the supposed deific symbols of the
enemy— the scalp or headdress or arrow of the alien tribesman, the
fire-breathing and echo-waking (as well as death-dealing) wand of
the Caucasian ; and the Papago arrows, Yaqui scalps, and white man's
firearms are sought avidly, treasured as fetishes, and often carried
conspicuously as badges of borrowed prowess.^ So the Seri are never
without alien insignia in the form of weapons. The day before the
1895 expedition entered their stronghold, a band of warriors and
women were frightened from a freshly slaughtered cow by a party of
vaqueros so suddenly that their arms were left behind — and these

^It should be noted that tbe actuality of the poisonous property ascribed to the yerba mala is in
some degree questionable ; the plant is the only one of southern Fapagueria yielding suitable material
for arrow-shafts, and it is possible (if not probable) that it was consecrated to this purpose by the
aboriginal Opata and protected by tabu in such wise as to become a sacred and fearsome thing. It is
accordingly by no means improbable that the reputed poisonous property is but the product of gen-
erations of association, and that the plant is really harmless — an inference supported by experi-
ments on the part of the leader of the 1895 expedition, who swallowed the juice of stem and leaves in
two or three minute but increasing doses without perceptible effect. On the other hand, it should be
observed that the region is one abounding in toxic juices, and that this shrub is so luxuriant and so
free from thorny armament and other protective devices of a mechanical sort as to raise the pre-
sumption that it must be protected against herbivorous animals, at least, by chemical constituents of
some kind (cf. ante, p. 35).

2 These motives on the part of the Seri were reciprocated by their tribal enemies ; a Papago fetish
in the form of an Apache arrowpoint, long worn by an aged warrior as a protection from Apache
arrows, was among the spoil of the 1894 expedition ; and a " poisoned '' Seri arrowhead and foreshaft,
worn by a superannuated Papago "doctor" as a badge of invulnerability to similar missiles, was cau-
tiously shown to the 1895 expedition, but was held above price by its wearer — and this despite the
fact that he had been christianized for decades, and retained no other pagan symbols.

260* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ahn.17

included a heavy Springfield " remodeled" rifle, lacking not only ammu-
nition but breechblock and firing pin; while Don Andres Noriega, of
Costa Eica, and L. K. Thoinpson, of Hermosillo, described a rifle of
modern make captured similarly two years before, which was in good
working order and charged with a counterfeit cartridge ingeniously
fashioned from raw buckskin in imitation of a center-fire brass shell
and loaded with a polished stone bullet,' The finders opined that the
rifles were carried to bluff the enemy, and even that the counterfeit
cartridge was designed to do deadly execution; but it would better
accord with Seri customs, and with the law of piraticsil acculturation
which they typify,^ to infer that the weapons were regarded rather as
symbols of mystical potencies than as simple scarecrows. Of related
import were two or three pseudomachetes made from rust-pitted cask
hoops, reported by the majordomo and several vaqueros at Costa Eica;
and of still greater significance was a machete picked up in a just-
abandoned jacal by Don Ygnaoio Lozanla — veteran of the Andrade
expedition and the Encinas conquest — which was laboriously rasped
and scraped out of paloblanco wood, colored in imitation of iron blade
and mahogany handle by means of face-paints, and even furnished with
"eyes" replacing the handle-rivets, in the form of embedded iron scales.
Some of the Seri are familiar with the normal use of firearms, as was
demonstrated by the Robinson and other episodes, and many of them
modernly make some use of machetes or other knives, as shown by vari-
ous rudely whittled wooden artifacts ; yet the burden of proof indicates
that the chief use of the Caucasian's weapons in the heat of actual war-
fare is shamanistic and symbolic. This interpretation is, in fact, prac-
tically established by the experience of the frontier; for the vaqueros
and local soldiery have little fear of the ill-understood firearms and
clumsily handled machetes occasionally seen in Seri hands, though
they dread unspeakably the necromantic arrows and flesh-rending
teeth with which the agile foes are credited.

The mystical potency ascribed to Caucasian firearms and cutlery by
the zoomimic tribesmen is of interest as a reflection of motives and
methods pervading the entire range of their activities; at the same
time it suggests the genesis of the aberrant technolithic craft displayed
in arrow-chipping. The information obtained from Mash^m and his
mates concerning chipped arrowpoints implied that the process was
hieratic and little understood by the body of the tribe, its place in the
tribal knowledge, indeed, being similar to that of the brewing of the
arrow "poison"; which is the special work of shamans; and this infor-
mation, comporting as it does with the rarity of the chipped points and

' The imitative skill of the Seri was illustrated at Costa Kica some years ago, when the petty
accounts for labor, etc, were kept by meaua of tokens stamped from sheet brass. While a Seri ran-
cheria was maintained near the rancho, the storekeeper detected a number of counterfeits of his
tokens, so well executed as to pass readily over the counter in ordinary exchange — and after extended
detective work the counterfeiting was traced to the rancheria.

'American Anthropologist, vol. XI. August, 1898, pp. 243-249.

«''o«=] MODES OF ATTACK 261*

the crudeness of the work, strongly supports the inference that the
stone arrow-making of the Seri was originally a fetishistic mimicry of
alien devices— a plane, indeed, above which the craft has hardly risen
even in recent decades.

While the Seri are devoid of military tactics in the strict sense of
the term, they have certain customs of warfare which seem to be
scrupulously observed. These customs are closely akin to those fol-
lowed in hunting the larger land animals— indeed, the warfare of the
tribe is merely an intensified counterpart of their chase.

The favorite tactical device of the warriors, as indicated by the great
majority of their battles, is the ambuscade, laid and sprung either with
or without the aid of decoys (usually aged women). Sometimes a con-
siderable body act in concert under a prearranged plan; more commonly
a few warriors only are involved at the outset, though these maybe
joined as the crisis approaches by companions lurking behind rocks
and shrubs to be either on hand at the finish or in the way of ready
flight, according to the turn of the battle-tide; and it is probable that
the greater part of the ambuscades prove stillborn by reason of the
oozing courage of leaders and the shirking of their supporters if
the prospective victims present a bold front, or if the final omens are
otherwise adverse. The ambuscade, with its flying contingent, grades
into the device of stalking a stationary or slowly moving enemy, the
stealthy approach terminating either in covert attack at close range or
in sudden rush by a superior force. The theory, or rather the instinctive
plan, of the campaign is to seek advantage in both position and num-
bers, to keep under cover until the instant of attack, to have sure and
ample lines of retreat, and in every way to minimize individual risk.

There is a widespread notion toward the Seri frontier that the savages
are given to sorties and surprises by night; but both specific testimony
and the records indicate, when carefully analyzed, that this tactical
device is much less common in practice than in repute, and is not,
indeed, characteristic of the tribe. A few known battles began in
attacks by night ; but the war parties, like the hunting and fishing par-
ties (save in the semiceremonial pelican pilgrimages), display decided
preference for daylight in their forays — indeed, there are various indi-
cations that the folk are much more timid and oppressed with super-
stitious fears by night than by day.

In rare cases small parties of aliens have been half openly surrounded
and done to death by considerably larger parties of the savage folk ; but
this method, too, is incongruous with the fixed habits of the tribe and
with the deep-planted instinct of avoiding personal exposure.

A considerable number of the long list of homicides charged against
the Seri, and marking the beginning of many of their battles, were
individual rather than collective, the consummation of inimical impulse
sometimes treacherously concealed for favorable opportunity, as in the

262* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

pitiful case of Fray Crisostomo Gil, and othertimes rising explosively
beyond the feeble control of the untrained mind; for the impulse of
enmity toward aliens is an ever-present possession — or obsession — of
the tribe, and a reflection of that race-sense Avhich is their most dis-
tinctive attribute.

Of open warfare and face-to-face fighting there is hardly a germ among
the Seri. When themselves ambushed or surrounded, some of their
stouter warriors have in a few instances faced the foe for a feM' min-
utes at a time, as is shown by the annals of Cerro Prieto ; yet this acci-
dental attitude but betokens the play of chance rather than the plan
of choice. Concordantly, the folk avoid the method of warfare (so com-
mon among other Amerind tribes as to be properly considered charac-
teristic) involving open duel between chiefs and other warriors; they
seem to be devoid of that sense of fairness in fighting which finds
expression in the duel; and despite the individual advantages growing
out of gigantic stature, immense strength, and superior swiftness, they
habitually seek to combine in numbers against panicked or baffled ene-
mies, just as their hunters throw themselves mercilessly on surrounded
quarry. Of open boldness or confident prowess no trace appears; and
the body of facts seems to justify the prevailing Sonoran opinion that
the warfare of the Seri is treacherous and cowardly in design, craven
and cruel in execution.

Once begun, the conduct of the fray by the Seri fighters is fairly
uniform; the warriors either discharge clouds of arrows from their
coigns of vantage, or rush to brain their victims with stones, or to
break their necks and limbs and crush in their chests, as in the
slaughtering of quarry; and according to the tale of the occasional sur-
vivors — Senor Pascual Enoinas and his son Manuel, Don Tgnacio
Lozania, Don Andres Noriega, Don Jesus Omada of Bacuachito, and
Don Bamon Noriega of Pozo Noriega, are among the survivors and
informants; also the sturdy Papago fighters, Mariana, Anton, Miguel,
and Anton Castillo (whose sister died of dread while he was on the 1895
expedition) — the rushing warriors are transfigured with frenzy; their
eyes blaze purple and green, their teeth glisten through snarling lips,
their hair half rises in bristling mane, while their huge chests swell
and their lithe limbs quiver in a fury sudden and blind and overpower-
ing as that of springing puma or charging peccary. Of the successful
assaults the ghastly end is rarely recorded, though whispered large in
the lore of Sonora; in the unsuccessful assaults recounted by survivors
the blood-frenzy burned but briefly and died swiftly as the disappointed
warriors skulked silently behind rocks and shrubs, or fled across the
sands with inconceivable fleetness. These details of battle precisely
parallel the details of butchery of beastly quarry, as recounted by
local observers and corroborated by Mash(5m's recitals.

So far as can be ascertained the parallelism between frenzied battling
and furious butchery in the chase affords the chief basis for the firm.

MCGEK] THE REPUTED ANTHROPOPHAGY 263*

SoDoran belief that the similarity extends one step farther, and that
the human victims are rent and consumed, like the beasts. There is a
lamentable lack of data concerning the alleged anthropophagy of the
Seri ; on the one hand there is the deep-seated local opinion, generally
growing stronger as the tribal territory is approached, and agreeing so
well with the hunting customs, the thaumaturgic arrow-poisoning, the
zoomimic handicraft, and zootheistic faith, and especially with the
pervading fetish-piracy of the folk, that its validity would seem inher-
ently probable; on the other hand, there is not only a dearth of specific
positive testimony, but haciendero Encinas (best informed among
Caucasians concerning Seri customs) and several of his yeomen reject
the prevailing belief, while Mashem consistently repudiated the cus-
tom, both in general and in particular, and in ceremonial as well as in
economic aspects, whenever and in whatever way the subject was
approached during his intercourse with the 1894 expedition. On the
whole, the much-mooted question of Seri cannibalism must be left open
pending further inquiry, with some preponderance of evidence against
the existence of the custom.

The war-frenzy of the Seri fighters is significant in its parallelism
with the blood-craze of the chase, and even more so in its analogy with
the warpath customs and ceremonies of most Amerind tribes and many
other primitive peoples. In typical tribes the warpath custom is a
most distinctive one, standing for an abnormal state of mind and an
unaccustomed habit of body, perhaps to the extent of an extreme
exaltation or obsession akin to intoxication, in which the ordinary ideas
of justice and humanity are inhibited; among most tribes the condi-
tion is sought voluntarily and deliberately when occasion is thought to
demand, and is superinduced by fasts and vigils, exciting songs and
ceremonies, and related means ; while among certain tribes the aid of
symbolic "medicines", which may be actual intoxicants, is invoked.
Thus the savage on the warpath is a different being from the same
man in times of peace; viewed from his own standpoint, he is possessed
of an alien and violent demon, usually that of a fantastic and furious
beast- god whose rage he must symbolize and enact; viewed from the
standpoint of higher culture, he is a raving and ruthless maniac whose
craze is none the less complete by reason of its voluntary origin. The
warpath frenzy is one of the fundamental, even if little understood,
facts of primitive life, and the character of the savage tribe can not
properly be weighed without appreciation of it. Now, the Seri blood-
craze seems measurably distinct in two ways: in the first place, it
expresses a more profound and bitter enmity toward aliens than is
found among most savage tribes— i. e., it is instinctive and persistent
in exceptional degree; in the second place, it is more spontaneous and
explosive in its culmination when conditions favor than among tribes-
men who induce the condition by elaborate preparation— i. e., it is
dependent on the ' swift-changing hazard of warfare in exceptional

264* THE SEBI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

I
measure; so that the Seri frenzy is at ouce more instinctive and more
fortuitous, or in general terms more inchoate, than the corresponding
condition among most of their contemporaries. Accordingly the war
customs, like several other features of the tribe, seem to afford a con-
necting link between the habits normal to carnivorous beasts and the
well-organized war customs of somewhat higher culture-grades; and
thus they contribute toward outlining the course of human development
through some of its darker stages.

Conformably with their poverty in offensive devices, the Seri are
exceedingly poor in devices for defense. It is an impressive fact that
a restricted motherland which has been successfully protected against
invasion for nearly four centuries of history should be destitute of
earthworks, fortifications, barricades, palisades, or other protective
structures; yet no such structures exist on any of the natural lines of
approach, and none are known anywhere in Seriland save in a single
spot — Tinaja Trinchera — where there are a few walls of loose-laid stone,
so unlike anything else in Seriland and so like the structures character-
istic of Papagueria as to strongly indicate (if not to demonstrate) inva-
sion and temporary occupancy by aliens. The jacaJes are not fortified in
the slightest degree, unless the turtle-shells with which they are some-
times shingled be regarded as armor; even the most ancient rancherias
are absolutely devoid of contravallations of earth, stone, or other mate-
rial; and both the structures themselves and the expressions of the
folk concerning them indicate that the jacales are not regarded as
fortresses or places of refuge against enemies, but only as comfortable
lodges for use in times of peace. Nor are walls like those of the border-
land Tinaja Trinchera known in the interior of the tribal territory — e. g.,
the similarly conditioned Tinaja Anita, which differs only in the greater
abundance and pei?manence of the water-supply, is entirely devoid of
artificial structures, not even a pebble or bowlder being artifically
placed save perchance by the casual trampling of the pathways. As
already noted, the Seri seem to be practically devoid of knife-sense;
they are still more completely devoid of fort-sense, although (and evi-
dently because) they rely so fully on natural things, including tuljelaries
and their own fleetness, for safety.

Although devoid of even the germ of fortification-sense, so far as can
be discovered, the Seri are not without a sort of shield-sense, which is
of much significance partly by reason of its inchoate character. The
ordinary shield is a pelican pelt, or a robe or kilt comprising several
skins ; it is employed either for confusing the enemy by swift brandish-
ing, something Sfter the fashion of the capa of the banderillero in the
bull ring, or for actual protection of the body against arrows and other
missiles or weapons. So far as known it is not backed or otherwise
strengthened, the user relying solely on the stout integument and
thick feathers — or rather on the mystical properties imputed to the
pelt as the mystery-tinged investiture of their chief creative tutelary.

MCGEK] PRIMITIVENESS OF THE WARFARE 265*

On the coast bucklers are improvised from turtle-shells, though, ac-
cording to Mash6m (confirmed by direct observation), these are not car-
ried inland for the purpose; but the protective function imputed to the
turtle was well represented in the rancheria at Costa Eica by several
fetishes made from phalanges of turtle-flippers tricked out in rags in
imitation of Caucasian dress (somewhat like the mortuary fetishes
illustrated in figure 40a and b). On the whole, the most conspicuous
feature of the individual shields or jjrotectors is their emblematic char-
acter; they are sortilegic rather than practical, and express imputation
of mystical potencies rather than recognition of actual properties; and
in this as in other respects they correspond closely with the offensive
devices, and aid in defining the ideas and motives of the primitive
warriors.

The actually effective protection of the Seri in warfare is their fleet-
ness, coupled with their habitual and constitu* "onal timidity, i.e., their
wildness — for they are verily, as their Mexican neighbors say, "gente
muy bronco". Moreover, they are adepts in concealing their persons
and their movements behind shrubbery and rocks, and in finding cover
on the barest plains; and suggestions are not wanting that the pro-
tecting shrub-clumps and rocks of their wonted ranges are credited
with occult powers and elevated to the lower places of their zoic pan-
theon, after the customary way of that overpowering zootheism, or
animism, which the Seri so well exemplify in many of their habits.

Summarily, the warfare of the Seri complements the pacific indus-
tries of the tribe in every essential respect. It is notable for improvi-
dence, i. e., for reliance on chance; the dearth of devices for offense and
defense parallels the poverty in industrial artifacts; and the disregard
of fortifications is of a kind with the squandering of present food sup-
plies and the utter neglect of provision for the future. A striking
correspondence between workfare and warfare is found in the fierce
blood-lust displayed alike in chase and battle, a feature manifestly
borrowed from beasts and intensified by besetting beast- faith; and
more striking still is the correspondence in motive, as revealed by the
overlapping functions of the protective kilt, by the borrowing of animal
symbols alike in peace and war, and by the imitation of animal move-
ments on the warpath as in the chase.

In the last synthesis the warfare of the Seri may be considered as
characterized by two attributes: (1) The motives, so far as developed,
are zoomimic in even greater degree than the prevailing motives of the
pacific industries; and (2) the methods are shaped largely by mechan-
ical chance, like those normal to protolithic industry.

Nascent Industrial Development

Industries form the chief bond between man and his environment.
The esthetic activities arise in the individual and extend to his fellows;
the institutional activities express the relations among individual men

266* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

and groups; the linguistic activities serve to extend social relations in
space and time, and the sophic activities to integrate and perpetuate
all relations; but it is through the industrial activities that human
intelligence interacts with physical nature and makes conquest of the
material world. Accordingly, industries act as a steady and never-
ceasing stimulus to intelligence; accordingly, too, the industrial activi-
ties afford the simplest and surest measure of intellectual advancement.
Under this view of the place of industrial activities in human phy-
logeuy, certain phases of Seri technology acquire importance and espe-
cial significance.

1. One of the most conspicuous features of Seri craft is its local
character. The foodstuffs, the materials for appareling and habita-
tions, and the substances utilized in the several lines of simple handi-
craft are essentially local; moreover, the characteristic methods and
devices evidently reflect local environmental conditions. There are,
indeed, a few phenomena suggesting, and a still less number demon-
strating, extraneous origin; the balsa and the kilt are sufQciently
similar to devices of other districts to suggest, though not to prove,
genetic identity (indeed, the sum of indications of local origin is much
weightier than the several suggestions of extraneous derivation) ; the
iron harpoon-points and arrow-tips are mainly of local flotsam, and are
essentially provincial in modes of employment; the chipped stone
arrow-tips, though local in material, are foreign in motive; but on sum-
marizing the industrial phenomena, it would appear that by far the
greater share are essentially local, while the few of exceptional (and
extraneous) character can be pretty definitely traced to importation
through the social interactions of recent centuries.

2. An equally conspicuous feature of tbe industrial craft of the Seri
is the dominance of chance in both processes and devices. The tradi-
tional " fisherman's luck" is made exceptionally uncertain by the sudden
gales and shifting currents of Seriland shores, while the absolute nec-
essaries of life on land are still more capricious than those alongshore;
this uncertainty of resources has profoundly affected the somatic fea-
tures of the tribesman, as indicated elsewhere (ante, p. 159); and
that the mental attributes of the folk are even more profoundly affected
is attested by the rdle played by chance in the selection and shapement
of the prevailing tools of stone and shell. The large rdle of chance
in Seri life is also revealed, though less directly, in the overweening
mysticism of zootheistic faith, with its material reflection in zoomimic
craft.

3. When the local and fortuitous features of the Seri industries are
juxtaposed they are found to express a notably inchoate or primitive
stage of industrial development. In both the local and the fortuitous
or accidental aspects, the activities are so closely adjusted to the imme-
diate environment as to approach the instinctive agencies and move-
ments of bestial life, and correspondingly to diverge from the composite

"""^^J GENESIS OF INDUSTRIES 267*

and cosmopolite characters of higher humanity; the dearth of extrane-
ous devices denotes absence or intolerance of that accultural inter-
change accompanying and marking the progress of peoples; and the
dearth of inventions denotes feebleness of creative faculty and absence
of that self-confideuce which accompanies and measures progress iu
nature-conquest.

4, When the local and fortuitous features of the Seri craft are viewed
in their serial or sequential relations, they are found to reflect and
attest autochthonal development. Excepting the few accultural pro-
cesses and devices whose acquisition may confidently be traced to cer-
tain social interactions of the historic period, the Seri technic is too
closely tied to local enviroument to warrant any supposition of impor-
tation from other districts. The question of the birthplace of the peo-
ple may be left open in this case as in every other; but the birthplace
of practically all those activities and activital products which define
the folk as human was manifestly Seriland itself— so that the tribe,
considered as a human folk rather than as a zoic variety, must be
classed as autochthonous.

Summarily, then, the Seri industries are significant as (1) local, (2)
fortuitous, (3) primitive, and (4) autochthonous; and these features
combine to illumine a noteworthy stage in primitive thought.

5, On juxtaposing these significant features of Seri technic, they are
found to reflect the tribal mind with noteworthy fidelity, and hence to
indicate the sources of Seri mentations, and of the local culture in
which these mentations are integrated. The local foodstuffs — espe-
cially that vital standard of values in arid regions, water — are periodic
sources of the strongest aspirations and inspirations of industrial life,
and the methods and devices for food-getting are but the legitimate
offspring of the inevitable relation between effort and environment; the
conspicuous rdle of chance is but the composite of the hard and capri-
cious environment on the one hand, and of the lowly thought reflecting
that environment on the other hand; the zoic faith into which the
magma of recurrent chance has semicrystallized finds carnate symbols
either in local beasts or in fantastic monsters suggested by those
beasts; even the mating instinct, second only to thirst among the
impelling action-factors of the folk, is so profoundly and bitterly pro-
vincial as to exclude foreign ideals to a degree unparalleled among
known peoples. The industrial materials are local — but not more local
than the thoughts in which they are reflected ; the technical methods
are unmistakably the offspring of the environment — but they are equally
the offspring of minds reflecting that environment and no other; the
few and simple devices stand for integrations of experiences, instinctive
rather than ratiocinative, the germ of invention rather than even its
opening bud — but the experiences bear the marks of that environment
and no other. Accordingly, the mental side of Seri industry, and, in-
deed, of all Seri life, appears to be the counterpart of the physical

268* THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.anh.it

side. The Seri mind is (1) local, (2) chance-dominated, (3) exceeding
lowly, and especially (4) autochthonal in its content and workings.

There is an aspect of the inference as to the local and autochthonal
character of the Seri mind which is of wide-reaching application. As
indicated by many tribes, though most clearly by the Seri, there is a
definite relation between the somatic characteristics of primitive folk
and their environment ; the indications are that the relation is inversely
proportionate to development, the lowliest tribes reflecting environ-
ment most closely, and the higher peoples responding less delicately to
the environmental pressure in the ratio of their increased power of
nature couquest; and the relation is essentially phylogenetic, in that it
sums and integrates the innumerable interactions between organic kind
and environment during generations or ages. It is to^be realized that
the relation is not simple and direct or physiologic merely (e. g., like
that between climate and the pelage of an animal), but that it is linked
through the human activities; for, as is conspicuously the case in Seri-
land, the environment prompts exercises of particular kinds, and it is
these exercises that shape the somatic features, such as strength of
lung, length of limb, and the soundness of constitution displayed in
physical endurance; yet the relation is none the less real, in that it
operates through the activities rather than directly. The relation may
be characterized with respect to mechanism as bodily responsion, or
with respect to capacity as responsivity of body. Now, as is well illus-
trated by the provincial ideation of the Seri, the relation between environ-
ment and physique is accompanied by a corresponding relation between
environment and thought. This relation, too, varies inversely with
development, the connection being closest among the most i^rimitive
tribes, and growing less and less close with maturing mentality and
proportionately increasing power of nature-contest; and the relation
is still less direct (or physiologic merely) than that between the human
body and its environment, in that not only the bodily activities but the
instinctive and nascently ratiocinative processes are interposed. This
relation between mind and environment may be characterized as mental
responsion in its mechanical aspect, or as responsivity of mi%d when
regarded as a psychic property.' Accordingly, the relation between
the tribal mind and its environment, as illumined by the peculiarly
delicate interactions observed among the Seri, seem to indicate the
genesis and earlier developmental stages of mentality in its multifarious
aspects.

The specially significant feature of the relation between environment
on the one hand and body + mind on the other is its diminishing
value with general intellectual advancement. Yiewed serially, the

1 The responsivity of mind has been defined elsewhere as the basis of knowledge, and as one of five
fundamental principles of science (The Cardinal Principles of Science, Frooeediugs of the Washing-
ton Academy of Sciences, vol. ii, 19up, pp, 1-12).

"^''™] RESPONSIVITY OF MIND 269*

relation may be considered to begin in the animal realm with organisms
adapted to environment through physiologic processes, and to end in
that realm of enlightened humanity in which mind molds environment
through complete nature-conquest. In the serial scale so defined the
various primitive tribes and more advanced peoples may be arranged
in the order of mental power or culture-status^ when the same arrange-
ment will express in inverse order the relative closeness with which
the several tribal minds reflect their environments. It follows that the
lowly minds and craft of the Seri reflect their distinctive environment
with exceeding, perhaps unparalleled, closenetes, because of their very
lowliness; it follows, too, that any other equally lowly folk imported
into the region and perfectly wonted to it by generations of experience
would equally reflect the physical features of the region in their craft and
in their thinking; it follows, also, that if the Seri were transported into
any other district of equally distinctive physical features, they would
gradually adapt themselves to the new en vironment— though with some
added intelligence, and hence with diminished closeness^ as is the way
of demotic development — in such manner that their craft and thinking
would reflect its features. In a more general way it follows that those
similarities in culture, or activital coincidences, which have impressed
the ethnologic students of the world (notably Powell and Brinton),
are normal and inevitable in primitive culture and of diminishing
prominence with cultural advancement.

Social Organization

Among the Seri, as among many other aboriginal tribes, the social
relations are largely esoteric; moreover, in this, as in other savage
groups, the social laws are not codified, nor even definitely formulated,
but exist mainly as mere habits of action arising in instinct and sanc-
tioned by usage; so thkt the tribesmen could not define the law even if
they would. Accordingly the Seri socialry ' is to be ascertained only
by patient observation of conduct under varying circumstances. Unfor-
tunately, the opportunities for such observation have been too meager
to warrant extended description, or anything more, indeed, than brief
notice of salient points.

CLANS AND TOTEMS

The most noticeable social fact revealed about the Seri rancherias is
the prominence of the females, especially the elderwomen, in the man-
agement of everyday affairs. The matrons erect the jacales without
help from men or boys ; they carry the meager belongings of the fam ily
and dispose them about the habitation in conformity with general cus-
tom and immediate convenience; and after the household is prepared,
the men approach and range themselves about, apparently in a definite

' A convenient term proposed by Patton.

270* THE SERI INDIANS [BTH.Aim.l7

order, the matron's eldest brother coming first, the younger brothers
next, and finally the husband, who squats in, or outside of, the open end
of the bower. According to Mash6m's iterated explanations, which
were corroborated by several elderwomen (notably the clanmother
known to the Mexicans as Juana Maria) and verified by observation
of the family movements, the house and its contents belong exclusively
to the matron, though her brothers are entitled to places within it
whenever they wish ; while the husband has neither title nor fixed
place, "because he belongs to another house "—though, as a matter of
fact, he is frequently at or in the hut of his spouse, where he normally
occupies the outermost place in the group and acts as a sort of outer
guard or sentinel. Conformably to their proprietary position, the mat-
rons have chief, if not sole, voice in extending and removing the
rancheria; and such questions as that of the placement of a new jacal
are discussed animatedly among them and finally decided by the dictum
of the eldest in the group. The importance of the function thus exer-
cised by the women has long been noted at Costa Eica and other points
on the Seri frontier, for the rancherias are located and the initial jacal
erected commonly by a solitary matron, sometimes by two or three
aged dames; around this nucleus other matrons and their children
gather in the course of a day or two; while it is usually three or four
days, and sometimes a week, before the brothers and husbands skulk
singly or in small bands into the new rancheria.

Quite similar is the regimentation of the family groups as indicated
by the correlative privileges and duties as to placement, as well as the
reciprocal rights of command and the requirements of obedience. Ordi-
narily (especially when the men are not about) the elderwoman of the
iacal exercises unlimited privileges as to placement of both persons and
property, locating the ahst, the bedding, the fire (if any), and other pos-
sessions at will, and assigning positions to the members of her family,
the nubile girls receiving especial attention; she is also the arbiter of
disputes, the distributor of food, etc ; but in case of tumult, especially
when children from other jacales are present, she may invoke the author-
ity of the clanmother, whose powers in the rancheria are analogous to
those of the younger matrons in their own jacales. Even when the
men are present they take little part in the regulation of personal con-
duct, but tacitly accept the decision of matron or clanmother; yet in
emergencies any of the women are ready to appeal for aid in the exe-
cution of their will to a brother (preferably the elder brother) of the
family, or, if need be great, to the brothers of the clanmother. So far
as was observed, and so far as could be ascertained through informants,
these appeals are always for executive and never for legislative or
judicative cooperation ; but various general facts indicate that in times
of stress — in the heat of the chase, in the warpath-craze, etc — the men
bestir themselves into the initiative, while the women drop into an
inferior legislative place. As an illustration of the ordination in some-

"''^'==1 PROMINENT PLACE OF MATRONS 271*

what uu usual circumstances, it may be noted that when the "Seri
belle" (Candelaria) refused to pose for a photograph she was supported
by the clanmother ( Juana Maria) until the latter was placated by pres-
ents; and that when the belle refused to obey the mother's command-
to the vociferous scandal of the entire group— Juana Maria appealed
to Senor Bncinas, as the conqueror of the tribe and hence as the virtual
head of both rancho and rancheria. And when a younger Seri maiden
(plate XXV) similarly refused to pose, and in like manner disobeyed her
mother (again to the general disgust), the latter appealed to Mashem;
when he, after first exacting additional presents for both girl and
mother and a double amount for himself, put hands on the recalcitrant
demoiselle and forced her into the pose required, despite the shrinking
and tremulous terror perceptible even in the picture.

Commonly the regimentation of family, clan, and larger group appears
to be indicated approximately by the placement assumed spontaneously
in the idle lounging of peace and plenty. A typical placement of a
small group is illustrated in plate xiv. Here the family are assembled
outside the jacal, but in the relative positions which would be assumed
within. The matron (a Eed Pelican woman) squats in easy reach of
her few and squalid possessions; on her left, i. e., in the group-back-
ground, and place of honor, sits the elderwoman of the rancheria (a
Turtle) ; then comes the daughter of the family, followed by two girl-
child guests of the group, the three occupying positions pertaining to
chiefs or elder brothers or, in their absence, to daughters; opposite the
matron sits a younger brother,' whose wife is a Turtle woman (daughter
of the dame in the place of honor) and matron of another jacal. A
few feet behind this brother (just outside the limits of the photograph
reproduced, though shown on the duplicate negative) squats the hus-
band, with his side to the group and face toward the direction of natural
approach ; while the place belonging to the sons of the fan)ily on the
matron's right is temporarily occupied by a White Pelican girl, together
with a dog, notable in the local pack for largely imported blood and
correspondingly docile disposition. The place for the babe, were there
one in the family, would be on the heap of odds and ends behind
the matron. As in this group so in most others, the place of the sons
is vacant; for the boys are at once the most restless and the most law-
less members of the tribe — indeed, the striplings seem often to ignore
the maternal injunctions and even to evade the rarely uttered avuncular
orders, so that their movements are practically free, except in so far as
they are themselves regimented or graded by strength and fleetness
and success in hunting.

Theraison d'etre of the proprietorship and regimentation reflected in
the everyday customs is satisfactorily indicated by that totemic feature
of the social organization revealed in the face-painting described in

1 This man "was one of those inTolved in the Robinson hutcherj on Tiburon island a few months
before the picture was taken ; and he was one of those executed or transported for the affair during
the interval between the 1894 and 1895 expeditions.

272* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

earlier paragraphs (pp. 164-169) ; these symbols evidently represent an
exclusively maternal organization into clans consecrated to zoic tute-
laries. The tutelaries, or totems, together with the clan names and all
personal designations connected with the totems, are highly esoteric,
and were not ascertained save in the few cases mentioned above.'

It should be observed that the identification of kindred by the alien
observer is dififtcult and somewhat uncertain, since the relationships
recognized in Seri socialry are not equivalent to those customary among
Caucasians. It was found especially difficult to identify the husband
of the jacal, partly because he is commonly incongruously younger (and
hence relatively smaller) than the mistress, and partly because of the
undignified position of outer guard into which he is forced by the tribal
etiquette. Moreover, his connection with the house is veiled by the
absence of authority over both cbildren and domestic affairs, though
he exercises such authority freely (within the customary limits) in the
jacales of his female relatives. There is, indeed, some question as to
the clear recognition of paternity; certainly the females have no term
for "my father", i. e., the term is the same as that for "my mother",
em, though the males distinguish the maternal ancestor by a suffixed
syllable (e="my father"; eta or i'-to/t="my mother"), which seems
to be a magnificative or an intensiflcative element. It is noteworthy
that the kinship terminology is strikingly meager; also that while the
records suggest various significant points, the material is hardly rich
enough to warrant complete synthesis of the consanguineal system.

While the burden of the more permanent property pertains to the
women, there is a decided differentiation of labor with a concomitant
vesting of certain property in the warriors — the distinctively masculine
chattels comprising arrows, quivers, bows, turtle-harpoons, etc. There
are indications that the balsas, too, are regarded as masculine prop-
erty. The impermanent possessions — water, food, etc — seem to be the
common property of men, women, and children, except in so far as the
right is regulated by regimentation; for the privileges of eating and
drinking are enjoyed in the order of seniority. In the reckoning of
seniority, the chief (who is comonly such in virtue of his position as
nominal elder brother of a prolific dame ) ranks first, and is followed by
other warriors in an order affected in an undetermined way by con-
jugal relations as well as by their prowess or sagacity ( the equivalents
of age in primitive philosophy) down to an undetermined point —
apparently fixed by puberty; then comes the clanmother, followed by
her daughters in the order of nominal age, which is affected by the
status of spouses and the number of living offspring; finally come
the children, practically in the order of their strength ( which also
is deemed an equivalent of age), though the girls — especially those

^The chief object of the 1895 expedition was to pursue the inquiries concerning social organization,
totems, etc ; but, as mentioned elsewhere, this object was defeated by the troublous history of the tribe
during the earlier part of 1895, and the consequent revival and intensification of their animosity
toward aliens.

MOQEE] DISTRIBUTION OP RIGHTS 273*

approaching nubility — receive some advantage through the con-
nivance of the matrons. To a considerable extent in the matter
of sustentation, and to a dominant degree in the matter of appar-
eling, the distribution of values is affected by a highly signifi-
cant (though by no means peculiar) humanitarian notion of inher-
ent individual rights— i. e., every member of the family or clan is
entitled to necessary food and raiment, and it is the duty of
every other person to see that the need is supplied. The stress of
this duty is graded partly by proximity (so that, other things equal, it
begins with the nearest person), but chiefly by standing and responsi-
bility in the group (which again are reckoned as equivalents of age),
whereby it becomes the business of the first at the feast to see that
enough is left to supply all below him ; and this duty passes down the
line in such wise as to protect the interests of the helpless infant, and
even of the tribal good-for-naught or hanger-on, who may gather crumbs
and lick bones within limits fixed by the tribal consensus. Beyond these
limits lies outlawry; and this status arises and passes into the tribal
recognition in various ways: Kolusio was outlawed for consociating
with aliens, and Mashem narrowly missed the same fate at several stages
of his career ; the would-be grooms who fail in their moral tests are
ostracized and at least semioutlawed, and range about like rogue ele-
phants, approved targets for any arrow, until they perish through the
multiplied risks of solitude, or until some bril liant opportunity for display
of prowess or generosity brings reinstatement; deformed offspring are
classed, as outside the human pale, even when the deformity is defined
rather by occult associations than by physical features; abnormal and
persistent indolence, too serious for scorn and ostracism to cure, may
also outpass the tribal toleration ; and, as indicated by Mash^m's guarded
expressions and slight additional data, disease, mental aberration, and
decrepitude are allied with indolence and deemed sufiScient reason for
excluding the persistently helpless from the tribal solidarity, and hence
from recognized humanity — and the fate of the outlaw, even if nothing
more severe than abandonment in the desert, is usually sure and swift.
The entire customs of outlawry among the Seri are singularly like those
of gregarious animals, including especially kine and swine in domesti-
cation. Now, studied equity in the distribution of necessaries might
seem to be allied to thrift ; but it is noteworthy that this is not so among
the Seri, who take thought for one another but not for the morrow,
who seem to have no conception of storage (save an incipient one in
connection with water and the repulsive notion underlying the " second
harvest"), and who habitually gorge everything in sight until their
stomachs and gullets are packed — and then waste the fragments.

The division of labor which affects proprietary interests is undoubt-
edly affected in turn by the militant habit of the tribe and by the fre-
quent decimation of the warriors. In general, the adult males limit their
work to fighting and fishing, with occasional excursions into the huut-
17ETH 18

274* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

ing field; though by far the greater part of their time is spent in listless
lounging or heedless slumber under the incidental guard of roaming
youths and toiling women. The matrons are the real workers in the
tribal hive; they are normally alert and active, passing from one sim-
ple task to another, gathering flotsam food along the beach or preparing
edibles in the shadow of the jacal, with an eye ever on material pos-
sessions and children; they frequently join in hunting excursions of
considerable extent; they are the chief manufacturers of apparel, uten-
sils, and tools; and the scions of Oastilian caballeros are not infre-
quently staggered at the sight of half a dozen Seri women " milling" a
band of horses, and at intervals leaping on one to kill it with their
hupfs. The masculine drones are the more petted and courted by rea-
son of their fewness, for during a century or two, at least, the women
havefar outnumbered their consorts— a disproportion doubtless tending
in some respects toward the disintegration of the clan system and,
reciprocally, toward the firmer union of the tribe.

One of the most noteworthy extensions of feminine functions among
the Seri is toward shamanism. So far as could be ascertained from
Mash^m and the associated matrons at Costa Eica, it is such beldams
as Juana Maria who concoct the arrow "poison", compound both necro-
mantic medicines and curative simples, cast spells on men and things,
and even fabricate the stone arrowpoints and counterfeit cartridges;
though unhappily the data are neither so full nor so decisive as desirable.^

Conformably with their prominence in proprietary affairs, the Seri
matrons seem to exercise formal legislative and judicative fi;inctions; for
not only do they hold their own councils for *he arrangement of the
domestic business of the rancherias, but they also participate prominently
in the tribal councils (as explained by Mash^m), and play important
rdles in carrying out the decisions of such councils — as when they coop-
erate with war parties as decoys, or journey across their bounding
desert to spy out the land of the enemy.

On the whole, it would appear that the clan organization of the Seri
conforms closely with that characteristic of savagery elsewhere, espe-
cially among the American aborigines. The social unit is the maternal
clan, organized in theory and faith in homage of a beast-god, though
defined practically by the ocular consanguinity of birth from a common
line of mothers; yet the several units are pretty definitely welded into
a tribal aggregate by common feelings, identical interests, and conjugal
ties. The most distinctive features brought out by the incomplete
Investigation are the somewhat exceptional manifestation of property-
right in the females, the singularly strong sense of maternal relation,
and the apparent prominence of females in shamanistlc practices as
well as in the tribal councils.

' The agency of the women in applyin g the arrow "prison" was noted by Hardy; of. p. 258.

MOQEE] TRIBAL ORGANIZATION 275*

CHIEFSHIP

The unformulated tribal laws of the Seri are intimately connected
with leadership, which is, in turn, largely a reflection of personal char-
acteristics ; so that the tribal organization is about as variable as that
of the practically autonomous herds of cattle ranging the Sonoran
plains adjacent to Seriland. Indeed, just as the stock-clans enjoy a
precedence on pasturage and at waterholes, determined by the valor
and strength of the bulls by which they are led, so the Seri clans appear
to be graded by the prowess of their masculine leaders, combined with the
sortilegic success of the leaders' consorts ; while, just a s the leadership of
the cattle shifts from band to band as the years go by, according to the
fairly equal hazard of natural selection, so the clan dynasties of the
human group lise, flourish, and decline in an endless succession shaped
by the chances of birth and survival under a capricious environment,
by the fate of battles internecine and external, and by various other
factors. The instability of the ISeri organization is demonstrated by
the tribal changes recorded in history, as well as by the vicissitudes
, within the memory of Senor Encinas and others. At the beginning of
the records the Upanguaymawere already exiled from Seriland proper
and apparently suft'ering from raids of their coUinguals; within a cen-
tury the Guayma, also, were expatriated and nearly annihilated; then,
in the early part of the present century, the Tepoka were extruded
and (after a series of wars in active progress in Hardy's time) forced
far up the coast to one of the poorest habitats ever occupied by any
folk. So, too, throughout the Encinas regime the internal dissensions
continued whenever the clans were not combined against aliens; and
the veteran pioneer has seen much intratribal strife, attended by the
rise and passing of many chiefs, both acknowledged and pretended,
and often exercising chiefly prerogatives two or three at a time. This
instability grows largely out of the fact that the essential unit is the
clan, and that the tribe is nothing more than a lax aggregation; and it
is measurably explained by the crude customs accompanying the choice
of leaders.

As already noted, the clan organization is maternal, and the clan-
mother is the central figure of the group; but the executive i>ower
resides in her brothers in the order of seniority — i. e., while the personal
arrangement of the group is maternal, the appellate administration is
fraternal. So far as could be ascertained, the form of government is
clearly discriminable from that commonly styled avuncular; for, in the
first place, the minor administration accompanying the control of prop-
erty invests the elderwomen with exceptional legislative and judicative
powers, while, in the second place, there are no old men (by reason of
the militant habit), so that the reverence for age so assiduously culti-
vated in primitive life extends to matrons much more than to men.

276* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann. 17

Classed with respect to major administration, therefore, the clan may
be regarded as an informal adelpMarchy {dSsX(p6s and apxo?) or a^el-
phocracy {dSeX^og and nparos). It has none of the elements of the
patriarchy, since male lineage is not recognized, and can not be classed
as a matriarchy, since the clanmother is admistratively subordinate to
her brothers; while the avuncular functions are apparently inchoate
and indirect, i. e., exercised only through or in conjunction with the clan-
mother. In short, the clan is ordinated or regimented in ostensible
accordance with physical power, though the real faculty is confused
(afterthefashionof primitive thinking generally) with mystical facul-
ties, imputed largely on magical grounds but partly on grounds of age-
reverence, etc. Now, when two or more clans combine, the basis on
which the common chiefship is determined is similar to that determin-
ing the clan leadership ; at the outset three factors epter, viz, (1) the
seniority of the clans in the accepted tribal mythology (2) the prowess
of the respective clan leaders (always weighed in conjunction with the
shamanistic potency of their consorts), and (3) the numerical strength
of the respective clans; but practically, so far as can be judged from
all available information, the choice really reflects physical force, since
in case of doubt the strongest and bravest man becomes the eldest by
virtue of his strength and bravery, while the strongest clan finds fair
ground for claiming seniority in the very fact of its strength. Natur-
ally disputes arise in the adjustment of the several relations; and in
the actual analysis in council, the dispute is commonly reduced to a
contest between gods and men, i. e., between the claims for mystical
and magical potencies on the one hand and the claims of brawn and
bone on the other hand, so that strength wins, unless omens or prodi-
gies turn the scale — which hai)pens often enough to keep the subjec-
tive and the objective elements in fairly equal balance. Sometimes
the contests are quickly settled; again they last for months, during
which the tribe struggles under its weight of Cerberus heads; and
repeatedly the disputes have ended in the annihilation of clans, or
even in the tribal fissions attested by the recorded and traditional
history of the Serian family.

The chiefship once determined, the leader bends all energies toward
maintaining the position by which he is dignified and his clan exalted.
He recognizes his responsibility for the welfare of the tribe — not only
for success in battle and food-getting, but for stilling storms at sea,
protecting the aguajes from the drought-demons, and securing all other
benefits, both physical and magical; he must be aggressive yet cautious
on the warpath, fleet and enduring in retreat, indomitable in the chase,
bold but not reckless on the balsa, and above all panoplied and favored
by the shadowy potencies of air and earth and waters; he must be the
local and lowly Admirable Crichton, and his never-neglected watchword
must be noblesse oblige. His practi(!al devices for maintaining prestige
are many and diverse; it is commonly the chief who carries the sym-

'«°*'^'^] OBLIGATIONS OP THE CHIEF 277*

bolic weapon, the counterfeit cartridge, the imitation machete, or other
charm against alien power; it is usually he who wears the white man's
hat or random garment in lieu of the deer or lion mask of earlier days;
and during recent years his most-prized fetish, and one which practi-
cally insures the support of his fellows, is a written certificate of his
chiefship from Senor Enciuas, or, still better, from El Gobernador at
Hermosillo. Yet he is a throneless and even homeless potentate,
sojourning, like the rest of his fellows, in such jacales as his two or
three or four wives may erect, wandering with season and sisterly
whim, chased often by rumors of invasion or by fearsome dreams, and
restrained by convention even from chiding his own children in his
wives' jacales save through the intercession of female relatives.

In 1894 the head chief was reported to be on Tiburon ; the putative
chief of the rancheria at Costa Eica was the taciturn giant known as
El Mudo (plate xix) ; while Mash6m (or Juan Estorga) was the head
of one of the Pelican clans.

ADOPTION

One of the more important factors in demotic development among
primitive peoples (probably second only to interclan marriage in
extending sympathy and unifying law) is adoption ; and special efforts
were made to obtain data relating to the subject. Direct inquiries
were futile, the responses indicating that the entire subject is foreign
to the thought of the tribe; but three sporadic and measurably incon-
gruous examples of quasi adoption are worthy of record.

The most specific case is that of Lieutenant Hardy, who visited Isla
Tiburon in 1826, and was fortunate in gaining the confidence of the
tribe through successful medical treatment of the wife of the chief. On
his second landing he was greeted with many expressions of gratitude,
which were especially exuberant on the part of the daughter of the
family (always a personage in Seri custom), who insisted on painting
his face. He specifies :

Not wishing to deny her the indulgence of this innocent frolic, I quietly suffered
her to proceed. She mixed up part of a cake of blue color, which resembles ultra-
marine (and of which I have a specimen), in a small shell; in another, a white color,
obtained by ground talc, and in a third was mixed a color obtained from the red
flint-stone of the class which I before stated was to be found on Seal Island, and
resembled cinnabar. With the assistance of a pointed stick the tender artist formed
perpendicular narrow stripes down my cheeks and nose, at such distances apart as
to admit of an equally narrow white line between them. With equal delicacy and
skill the tops and bottoms of the white lines were finished off with a white spot. If
the cartilage of my nose at the nostrils had been perforated so as to admit a small,
round, white bone, five inches in length, tapering off at both ends and rigged some-
thing like a cross-jack yard, I might have been mistaken for a native of the island.
As soon as the operation was finished, the whole party set up a roar of merry laugh-
ter, and called me "Hermano, Capitan Tiburpw," being the very limited extent
of their knowledge of Spanish.'

I Travels, p. 286.

278* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

While the lieutenant attached no significance to the painting, the
procedure would seem to have been a ceremonial adoption, such as
might, for example, be used in connection with a confederate clan.
The description of the painting is sufadently explicit to identify the
totem with that of the Turtle clan, represented by the clanmother and
the daughter of the clan at Oosta Eica in 1894 (plates xviii and xxiv) ;
but it is noteworthy that the salutation with which the ceremony termi-
nated, and which may be rendered "Captain-Brother of the Sharks",
would seem to identify the totem with the shark rather than the turtle.'

The second case of adoption (if so it may be styled) was that of
Senor Bncinas, after his bloodiest battle, in which nearly all of the
Seri warriors were left on the field. In this case there was no cere-
mony, or at least none remembered by the beneficiary; he was merely
informed by a delegation of aged dames that" thenceforth he would be
regarded as a stronger and more invulnerable chief (shaman) than any
member of the tribe, and hence as the tribal leader.

The third instance is still less definite, though it seems to be trust-
worthy. There is a widespread tradition throughout Sonora that in
the course of a brush between a band of Papago hunters and a maraud-
ing bunch of Seri warriors in the mountains southeast of Cieneguilla
twenty-five or thirty years ago, a Papago maiden was captured and
carried off to Tiburou ; and that for some years thereafter — i. e., until
the Papago had taken ample blood- vengeance — the intertribal animos-
ity was exceptionally bitter. No wholly satisfactory basis for the tradi-
tions could be found among the Papago, though some of the silences
of the old men were suggestive; nor was the tradition fully credited
by Seiior Bncinas, despite its deep lodgment in the minds of some of
his yoemanry. When Mash^m was interrogated on different occasions,
he merely shook his head in stolid silence; but when the device was
adopted of inquiring the number of Papago children brought into the
tribe through this woman he responded promptly with a snort of
scorn, and followed this with the explanation that she never had chil-
dren, and could not because she was an alien slave. The explanation
was corroborated by clanmother Juana Maria and other matrons, with
sundry expressions of contemptuous disapproval of the inquiry and
scorn of the very idea that aliens could fructify within the tribe.
Later, the ice being broken, MashiSm intimated that the woman had
recently died of old age and its consequences — doubtless as an outcast.
On the whole, the direct testimony would seem to substantiate the tra-
dition, and to supplement it with the short and simple annals of a
spouseless and childless life (incredible of other tribes, but consistent

^This identification may posaibly be correct; the collocation of the totem with the turtle was
shaped through unwilling and perhaps misleading responses made hy Mash^m to inquiries in 1894—
these responses denoting a sea monster which in the beginning helped the Ancient of Pelicans to make
the world by pushing from below, and which is now very good food — a description.apparently fitting
the turtle more closely than the other animal.

'"''"'"'1 RARITY OF ADOPTION 279*

with the customs of the Seri), endured for many years and ending at
last in unpitied death.

Collectively the cases seem to define a germ, rather than a mature
custom, of adoption. In the first case a benefactor (by means regarded
as magical) was formally inducted into the reigning family; in the
second case the conquering hero (through what were again regarded as
magical means) was less formally recognized and venerated, even wor-
shiped, as an all-powerful shaman; while in the third case a represent-
ative of the doughtiest alien tribe was enslaved, probably with motives
akin to those expressed in the carrying of chargeless guns, the making
of imitation machetes, and other fetishistic devices. Except in the
first instance there is no indication of consistent custom; but since the
entire history of the tribe clearly contradicts regulated adoption of
aliens (and indeed affords no other example), it must be inferred that
any such custom is intratribal rather than intertribal.

MAERIAG-B

The most striking and significant social facts discovered among the
Seri relate to marriage customs.

As noted repeatedly elsewhere, the tribal population is preponder-
antly feminine, so that polygyny naturally prevails; the number of
wives reaches three or possibly four, averaging about two, though the
younger warriors commonly have but one, and there are always a num-
ber of spouseless (widowed) dames but no single men of marriageable
age. So far as could be ascertained, no special formalities attend the
taking of supernumerary wives, who are usually widowed sisters of the
first spouse; it seems to be practically a family affair, governed by con-
siderations of convenience rather than established regulations — an
irregularity combining with other facts to suggest that polygyny is
incidental, and perhaps of comparatively recent origin.

The primary mating of the Seri is attended by observances so elabo-
rate as to show that marriage is one of the profoundest sacraments of
the tribe, penetrating the innermost recesses of tribal thought, and
interwoven with the essential fibers of tribal existence. Few if any
other peoples devote such anxious care to their mating as do the Seri;'
and among no other known tribe or folk is the moral aspect of conjugal
union so rigorously guarded by collective action and individual devotion.

The initial movement toward formal marriage seems to be somewhat
indefinite (or perhaps, rather, spontaneous); according to Mash^m it
may be made either by the prospective groom or else by his father,
though not directly by the maiden or her kinswomen. In any event
the prerequisites for the union are provisionally determined in the
suitor's family ; these relate to the suitability of age, the propriety of

• Perhaps the closest parallel in this respect is that fouDd in theelaborate marriage regulations pre-
vailing among the Australian aborigines, as described by Spencer and Gillen, Walter E. Roth, and
other modern observers .

280*. THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

the clan relation, etc; for no stripling may seriously contemplate matri-
mony until lie has entered manhood (apparently corresponding with
the warrior class), nor can he mate in his own totem, though all other
clans of the tribe are apparently open to him; while the maiden must
have passed (apparently by a considerable time) her puberty feast. In
any event, too, the proposal is formally conveyed by the elderwoman
of the suitor's family to the maiden's clanmother, when it is duly pon-
dered, first by this dame and her daughter matrons; and later (if the
proposal is entertained) it is deliberated and discussed at length by the
matrons of the two clans involved, who commonly hold repeated councils
for the purpose. At an undetermined stage and to an undetermined
degree the maiden herself is consulted; certainly she holds the power
of veto, ostensible if not actual. Pending the deliberations the maiden
receives special consideration and enjoys various dignities ; if circum-
stances favor, her kinswomen erect a jacal for her; and even if cir-
cumstances are adverse, she is outfitted with a pelican robe of sis or
eight pelts and other matronly requisites. When all parties concerned
are eventually satisfied a probationary marriage is arranged, and the
groom leaves his clan and attaches himself to that of the bride. Two
essential conditions — one of material character and the other moral —
are involved in this probationary union; in the first place, the groom
must become the provider for, and the protector of, the entire family of
the bride, including the dependent children and such cripples and
invalids as may be tolerated by the tribe — i. e., he must display and
exercise skill in turtle-fishing, strength in the chase, subtlety in war-
fare, and all other physical qualities of competent manhood. This
relation, with the attendant obligations, holds for a year, i. e., a round
of the seasons. During the same period the groom shares the jacal
and sleeping robe provided for the prospective matron by her kins-
women, not as privileged spouse, but merely as a protecting com-
panion; and throughout this probationary term he is compelled to
maintain continence — i. e., he must display the most indubitable proofs
of moral force. During this period the always dignified position occu-
pied by the daughter of the family culminates ; she is the observed of
all observers, the subject of gossip among matrons and warriors alike,
the recipient of frequent tokens from designing sisters with an eye to
shares of her spouse's spoils, and the receiver of material supplies
measuring the competence of the would-be husband ; through his energy
she is enabled to dispense largess with lavish hand, and thus to dignify
her clan and honor her spouse in the most effective way known to
primitive life; and at the same time she enjoys the immeasura,ble moral
stimulus of realizing that she is the arbiter of the fate of a man who
becomes warrior or outcast at her bidding, and through him of the
future of two clans— i. e., she is raised to a responsibility in both per-
sonal and tribal affairs which, albeit temporary, is hardly lower than
that of the warrior -chief. In tribal theory the moral test measures

"''°™] RIGOROUS MABITAL REGULATIONS 281*

the character of the man; in very fact, it at the same time both meas-
ures and makes the character of the woman. Among other privileges
bestowed on the bride during, the probationary period are those of
receiving the most intimate attentions from the clanfellows of the
groom; and these are noteworthy as suggestions of a vestigial polyan-
dry or adelphogamy. At the close of the year the probation ends in a
feast provided by the probationer, who thereupon enters the bride's
jacal as a perpetual guest of unlimited personal privileges (subject to
tribal custom) ; while the bride passes from a half- wanton heyday into
the duller routine of matronly existence.

These details were elicited at Costa Rica in 1894 through methodical
inquiries made in connection with the linguistic collection. This col-
lection was made with the cooperation of Seiior Alvemar-Leon as Span-
ish-English interpreter, together with Mash6m and (commonly) the
clanmother known as Juana Maria. Usually quite a group of Seri
matrons with two or three warriors were gathered about, and to these
Mash^m frequently appealed for advice and verification, while they con-
stantly expressed approval or disapproval of questions and replies, as
gathered through Mash6m's words and mien, in such manner as to
afford a fair index of their habitual thought — e. g., when the Seri ver-
nacular for "twins" was obtained and the inquiry was extended (by
normal association of ideas) to the term for "triplets", Mash6m col-
lapsed into moody silence while the rest of the group decamped inconti-
nently with horror-stricken countenances — thereby suggesting cautious
subsequent inquiry, and the discovery that triplets are deemed evil
monsters and their production a capital crime. It was in one of the
earlier conferences that the first intimations concerning the unusual
marital customs were incidentally brought out; the Oaucasiou interpre-
ter and bystanders were diverted by the naive reference to the moral
test, but their expressions were hastily checked lest the native inform-
ants might be startled and rendered secretive; then, during two later
conferences, when Mash^m and several matrons were freely participat-
ing in the proceedings, the line of inquiry was so turned as to touch on
various aspects of the marriage custom and bring out all essential fea-
tures ; so that much confidence is reposed in the accuracy of the details.'
The confidence in the verity of the customs was such as not to be
impaired seriously by the fact that no records of coincident moral tests
were known in the voluminous literature of marriage and its concomi-
tants; nor was it .shaken by the still weightier fact that none of the
experienced ethnologists to whom inquiries were addressed during
ensuing months were acquainted with parallel customs — indeed the only
shadow of corroboration thus obtained came in the form of references
to the widespread requirement of continence in war and ceremonies,

' It may be observed tbat Koluaio, wbeii visited in January, 1896, failed to corroborate the descrip-
tions of Masb^m and the matrons ; but bia failure occasioned little surprise for the reason that he has
not lived with his tribe since early boyhood, and is equally uninformed (or uncommunicative) con-
cerning the myths, ceremonies, and even the totems of the tribe.

282* THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.anx.17

and to an affectation of self-restraint for a moon on the part of Znni
grooms noted by Frank Hamilton Gushing. Accordingly the facts
were announced in a preliminary paper/ and were shown to stand in
such relation to the marital customs of other aboriginal tribes as prac-
tically to demonstrate their validity, and at the same time to locate the
Seri customs on a lower plane of cultural development than any hitherto
definitely recognized.

Happily, subsequent researches have resulted in the discovery of
records corroborative of the primitive customs observed by the Seri,
and also of the assignment of serial place to these customs. The
most specific record is that of John Giles (or Gyles), who spent his
youth as a captive among the northeastern Algonquian Indians (proba-
bly the Maliseet or some closely related Abnaki tribe), from August 2,
1689, to June 28, 1698. Eeferring to the marital customs of the tribe,
he observed :

If parents have a dangnler marriageable, they seek a husband for her who is a
good hunter. If she has been educated to make monoodah (Indian bags), birch
dishes, to lace snowshoes, make Indian shoes, string wampum belts, sew birch
canoes, and boil the kettle, she is esteemed a lady of fine accomplishments. If the
man sought out for her husband have a gun and ammunition, a canoe, a spear, a
hatchet, a monoodah, a crooked knife, looking-glass and paint, a pipe, tobacco, and
knot-bowl to toss a kind of dice in, he is accounted a. gentleman of a plentiful
fortune. Whatever the new married man procures the iirst year belongs to his
wife's parents. If the young pair have a child within a year and nine months, they
are thought to be very forward and libidinous persons.'

This record is of peculiar interest in that it definitely specifies a
custom corresponding with the material test of the Seri, and unmistak-
ably implies the existence, at least in vestigial or sentimental form,
of a custom corresponding with the moral test of Seriland; and it is
particularly noteworthy as coming from a remote tribe occupying
a distant part of the continent.

A somewhat less specific corroboration is found in Lawson's account
of the Carolina tribes. He observes :

When any young Indian has a mind for such a girl to his wife, he, or some one for
him, goes to the young woman's parents, if living; if not, to her nearest relations,
where they make offers of the match betwixt the couple. The relations reply, they
will consider of it; which serves for a sufficient answer, till there be a second
meeting about the marriage, which is generally brought into debate before all the
relations, that are old people, on both sides, and sometimes the king, with all his
great men, give their opinions therein. If it be agreed on, and the young woman
approve thereof, for these savages never give their children- in marriage without
their own consent, the man pays so much for his wife; and the handsomer she is
the greater price she bears. Now, it often happens that the man has not so much
of their money ready as he is to pay for his wife ; but if they know him to- be a good
hunter, and that he can raise the sum agreed for, in some few moons, or any little

^ The Beginning of Marriage, American Anthropologist, rol- ix, 1896, pp- 371-383.

^Memoirs | of | Odd Adventures, | Strange Deliverances, etc. | in the | Captivitiy of John G-lles,
Esq., 1 Commander of the Garrison on Saint G-eorge river, in the ] District of Maine- | Written hy
Himself. | Originally published at Boston, 1736. || Printed for William Dodge. || Cincinnati: | Spiller cfe
Gates, printers, 168 Vine street. | 1869.— P. 45.

"°°==] PARALLEL MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 283*

time they agree, she shall go along with him as betrothed, but he is not to have any
knowledge of her till the utmost payment is discharged ; all which is punctually
observed. Thus they lie together under one covering for several months, and the
woman remains the same as she was when she first came to him.'

This record also is peculiarly pertinent, partly iu that it practically
corroborates the Seri testimony, but chiefly in that it indicates definite
transition toward a higher culture-plane in which the primitive material
test is at least partially replaced by a commutation in goods or their
equivalents.

On reducing the marital customs of the Seri to conventional terms,
the more prominent features are found to be (1) strict clan exogamy
and (2) absolute tribal endogamy, together with (3) theoretical or con-
structive monogamy, coupled with (4) vague traces of polyandry, and
(5) an apparently superficial polygyny, as well as (6) total absence of
purchase or capture of either spouse.

On reviewing the customs in the light of their influence on the
everyday life of the tribe, certain features stand out conspicuously:
(1) Perhaps the most striking feature is the collective character of the
function ; for while the movement originates in personal inclination on
the part of the suitor and is shaped by personal inclination on the part
of the maiden, all manifestations of inclination are open and public
(at least to the elders of the two clans involved), while the personal
sentiments on both sides are completely subordinated to the public
interests of clans and tribe as weighed and decided by the matronly
lawgivers and adelphiarchal administratives. Thus neither man nor
maid mates for thonself, but both love and move in the tribal interests
and along the lines laid down by the tribal leaders. (2) As a corollary
or a complement (according to the viewpoint) to the collectivity of the
mating, the next most striking feature is the formal or legal aspect of
the union; for the entire affair, from inception to consummation, is
rigorously regulated by precedents and usages handed down from an
immemorial past. Thus the roots of young affection are not destroyed
but rather cultivated, though the burgeoning vine and the outreach-
ing tendrils are trained to a social structure shaped in ages gone and
kept in the olden form by unbroken tradition. (3) A collateral fea-
ture of the customs is the necessary reaction of the requirements on
individual character of both groom and bride; for the would-be war-
rior-spouse is compelled to display high qualities of physical and
moral manhood on pain of ostr^ism and outlawry, so that his pas-
sions of ambition and. affection are at once stimulated to the highest
degrfee, while the maiden's pride of blood and possession and her sense
of regnant responsibility are fostered to the utmost. The brief prelimi-
nary courtship and the long probationary mating mark an era of intensi-
fication in two lives at their most impressionable stage; and if there be

'The History of Carolina, etc, by John Lawson (1714), reprint of 1860, pp. 302-303. Attention was
called to this passage by Mr James Mooney.

284* THE SERI INDIANS [eih.ann17

aught in the simple yet puissant law of conjugal conation — that law
whose motive underlies the world's song and story and all the pulsing
progress of mankind as the inspiration of most men's work and most
women's hopes— the vital intensity of this era passes down the line of
blood-descent to the betterment of later generations. (4) Another col-
lateral feature is the necessary reaction on clan and tribe; for not only
does the individual character-making raise the average physique and
morale of the group, but the carefully studied restraint of excessive
individuality serves to strengthen still further the tribal bonds and
to lift still higher the racial bar against aliens. The blackest crime in
the Seri calendar is the toleration of alien blood; and no more effective
device could- be found for keeping alive the race-sense on which this
canon depends than that virtually sacramental surveillance of sexual
intimacy which Seri usage requires.'

On scanning the conventional classifications of human marriage in
the light of the Seri customs, it becomes clear that these customs define
a plane not hitherto recognized observationally. For convenience, this
plane and the mode of marriage defining it may, in special allusion to
the correlative race-sense, be styled ethnogamy ; and the more systematic
characters of this mode and plane of marriage may be outlined briefly :

1. The most conspicuous character of ethnogamic union, as manifested
in the type tribe, is its absolute confinement to the consanguineal group.
The breach of this limitation is hardly conceivable in the minds of the
group, since aliens are not classed as human, nor even dignified as
animals of the kinds deified in their lowly faith, but contemned as
unclean and loathsome monsters ; yet the infraction has a sort of theo-
retical place at the head of their calendar as an utterly intolerable
crime. In respect to this character, ethnogamy corresponds fairly with
the endogamy of McLennan, Spencer, and others, i. e., with the tribal
endogamy of Powell.

3. A hardly less conspicuous character of ethnogamic union is the
formality, or legality, accompanying and reflecting the collective nature
of the function. In this respect ethnogamy is the direct antithesis of
that hypothetical promiscuity postulated by Morgan and adopted by
Spencer, Lubbock, Tylor, and others ; and the customs of the type tribe
go farther, perhaps, than any other example in verifying the alternative

• The remarkaTjle race-sense of tlie tribe, with the conjugal conatiou in which it aeems to root, are
discussed ante, pp. 160-163. There is nothing to indicate, and much to contraindicate, that the Seri
are consciously engaged in stirpiculture ; yet their social and ftducial devices would seem to be no less
effective in developing race-sense, with its concomitants, than were those of prehistoric men in devel-
oping the physical attributes of animal associates, such as the wool-bearing of the sheep, the egg-lay-
ing of the fowl, and the milk-giving of the cow; or the still more striking mental attributes, such as
the servility of the horse, the fidelity of the dog, and the domesticity of the oat. All these attributes
are artificial, though nofc consciously so to their producers, hardly even to modern users ; they are
by-products of long-continued breeding and exorcise, commonly directed toward collateral ends (as
when the horse was bred for speed, the dog for hunting, and the fowl and cat for beauty) ; and, simi-
larly, the Seri race-sense would seem to be largely a by-product of faith-shaped customs designed
primarily to propitiate or in vote mystical potencies— yet the collateral effect is not diminished because
overlooked in the primary motive.

'>'^™'=I GENESIS OF MARRIAGE 285*

assumption of Westermarck that the course of conjugal development is
rather from monogamy toward promiscuity than in the reverse direction.

3. A noteworthy character of ethnogamic union is the absence of cap-
ture of either bride or groom. Any semblance of capture would indeed
be wholly incongruous with the rigid confinement of union to members
of the group ; it would also be incongruous with the exceeding formality
and necessary amicability of both preliminary and concomitant arrange-
ments.

4. Another noteworthy character is the total absence of purchase on
either part. Although a material condition attends the union, it is
essentially a test of character, and is applied in such wise as to dignify
the feminine element rather than to degrade it like barbaric wife-
purchase; while any semblance of purchase would be incongruous with
the economic condition of a tribe practically destitute of accumulated
property or even of thrift- sense.

5. A significant character of ethnogamic union, as exemplified in the
type tribe, is the ceremonial or constructive monogamy. While there
are obscure (and presumptively vestigial) traces of polyandry or
adelphogamy, and while an informal polygyny is practiced by the chiefs
and older warriors, the formal matings are between one man and one
woman, and appear to be permanent.

Xow, on comparing these characters with those revealed in the mari-
tal customs of other tribes and peoples, they are found to betoken a
notably provincial and primitive culture-stage. Perhaps the nearest
American approach to the Seri customs is found among certain Cali-
fornia aborigines, notably the Yurok and Patawat tribes, who recognize
the institution of "half-marriage";' but here the material test of Seri-
laud is replaced by purchase, while no trace of the moral test is found
(even as among the Carolina Indians, according to Lawson) ; moreover,
while these tribes discourage alien connections, they are not absolutely
eschewed and reprobated as among the Seri. Other notably primitive
customs, like those so fully described by Spencer and Gillen, have been
found among the Australian aborigines f but even here a part only of
the marriages are regulated by amicable convention, while others are
effected by (1) charm, (2) capture, and (3) elopement; and these collat-
eral devices imply intertribal relations of a kind incongruous with the
ethnogamic habit and utterly repugnant to the ethnogamic instinct.
In both cases, accordingly, the marital customs clearly imply (and
actually accompany) a much more highly differentiated socialry and
economy than that of the Seri. The same is true of that vestigial
custom of the Scottish clans known as handfasting, which is, moreover,
a direct antithesis of the Seri custom in that it carries a warrant for,
rather than an abridgment, of, conjugal prerogatives; and the same

J Contributions to North American Ethnology, toI. m, 1877 (Tribes of California, by Stephen Powers),
pp. 56, 98.
2 The Native Tribes of Central Australia, 1899, pp. 554-660 and elsewhere.

286* THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

might be said also pf various South American, African, and southeast-
ern Asian customs.

Certain representative North American customs have already been
seriated in connection with the Seri customs, and their relations are of
sufficient significance to warrant recapitulation. The series begins
with the maternally organized and practically propertyless Seri. Next
stand the Zuni,with an essentially maternal organization, the vestigial
moral test of the groom noted by Gushing, and a concomitant material
test verging on purchase; so, too, monogamy persists, while the func-
tion remains largely collective, and is regulated by the elders, though
the bride enjoys special prerogatives; and the fierce tribal endogamy
is relaxed, though clan exogamy is enforced. Measurably similar to
those of the Zuni are the marital customs of the peaceful Tarahumari
tribe of northern Mexico and the once warlike Seneca tribe of north-
eastern United States, although among both of these more cosmopolitan
peoples the regulations are less closely similar to the Seri customs than
are those of the Pueblo tribe named. Next in order of marital dif-
ferentiation stand the Kwakiutl and Salish tribes of British Colum-
bia, in which the social organization has practically passed into the
paternal stage; here the laws of monogamy, clan exogamy, and tribal
endogamy are materially relaxed, the moral test is lost among the
Kwakiutl and reduced to a curious vestige among the Salish, while the
material test is commuted into the making of expensive presents. Still
more remote from the initial stage is the marriage of the paternally
organized Omaha, among whom tribal endogamy is prevalent but not
absolute, while polygyny is customary ; among whom the moral test
seems wholly obsolete, while the material test is completely replaced by
purchase (or at least by the interchange of expensive presents) ; and
among whom, concordantly, the feminine privileges are few and the
females are practically degraded to the rank of property of male kindred
or spouses. These sevei al customs fall into a natural order or series
definitely coordinated with the esthetic, the industrial or economic, and
the general institutional or social conditions of the respective tribes;
and it is noteworthy that they mark successive stages in that passage
from the mechanical to the spontaneous which characterizes demotic
activity. '

In brief, ethnogamy, as exemplified by the type tribe, accompanies
that strici-ly maternal organization which marks the lowest known stage
of social development; it accompanies also a rudimentary esthetic con-
dition in which decorative symbols are restricted to the expression of
maternal relation ; iz accompanies, in like manner, an inchoate economic

1 Cf. l^he Beginning of Marriagn, op. cit. The conclusion from the details discussed in this paper is
as follows : ' ' Summanzing the tendencies revealed In this hi,story, it ■would appear that the course of
evolution [of conjugal institutions] has been from the simple to the complex, from the definite to the
indefinite, from the general to the special, from the fixed to the variable, from the involuntary to
the voluntary, from the mechanical to the spontaneouB, from the provincial to the cosmopolitan, or, in
brief, from the chiefiy biotio to the wholly demotic " (p. 283).

MC6EE] PRIMARY STAGE OF ETHNOGAMY 287*

condition characterized by absence of property and thrift-sense ; while
its most essential concomitant is extratribal antipathy too bitter to
permit toleration of alien blood, or even of alien presence save under
the constraint of superior force.

MORTUARY CUSTOMS

The prevailing opinion among the better informed Caucasian neigh-
bors of the Seri is that the tribesmen display an inhuman indifference
to their dead; and this opinion is one of the factors — combining with
current notions as to cannibalism and arrow-poisoning and beastlike
toothing in battle — involved in the widespread feeling that the tribes-
men are to be accounted as mongrel and uncanny monsters rather than
human beings.

The opinion that the Seri neglect their dead on occasion would seem
to rest on a considerable body of evidence; Mendoza's record of the
numberless neglected corpses of warriors polluting the air and poison-
ing the streams of Oerro Prieto.in 1757 would seem to be unusual only
in its fulness ; and Seiior Bncinas, albeit so conservative as to repudi-
ate the reputed anthropophagy and to recognize better qualities among
the folk than any contemporary, declares that they are utterly negligent
of their dead, save that when the bodies lie near rancherias heaps of
brambles are thrown over them to bar — and thus to lessen the disturb-
ance from — prowling coyotes. Quite indubitable, too, is the specific
testimony of vaqueros to the effect that Seri raiders overtaken by the
Draconian penalty of the frontier merely lie where they fall, even when
this is well within reach of the tribesmen, Don Andres Noriega's verifi-
cation of his boast (ante, p. 113) being an instance in point. On the other
hand stands the conspicuous fact (unknown to the frontiersman) that
well-marked cemeteries adjoin some of the rancherias of interior Seri-
land. The sum of the somewhat discrepant evidence accords with a
characteristically unsatisfactory statement by Mashi^m, to the effect
that the mourning ceremonies are important only in connection with
women — i.e., matrons — because "the'woman is just like the family "("la
muger es como la familia") ; and this intimation, in turn, is corroborated
by the single known instance of inhumation in Seriland, as well as by
certain indirect indications connected with the scatophagic customs
(ante, p, 213). On the whole it seems certain that the mortuary cere-
monies attain their highest development in connection with females, the
recognized blood-bearers and legislators of the tribe.

The special dignification of females in respect to funerary rites is
without precise parallel among other American aborigines, so far as
is known, but is not without analogues in the shape of (presumptive)
vestiges of a former magnification of matrons in the mortuary customs
of certain tribes. The vestiges are especially clear among the Iro-
quoian Indians, whose aboriginal socialry coincided with that of the

288* THE SEKI INDIANS [eth.ann.IT

Seri at various points; witness the following passage from tlie Onon-
daga mourning ritual, as collected and translated by Hewitt :

Now, moreover, again, another thing, indeed, our voices come forth to utter ; and
is it not that that we say, that far yonder the Hoyaner [chief of highest grade]
who lahored for us so well is falling away as falls a tree? So, moreover, it is these
things that he bears away with him— this file of mat-carriers, warriors all, visible
and present here; also this file of those who customarily dance the corn-dances
[the women]— they go prosperously. And alasl How utterly calamitous is that
thing that occurs when the body of this woman falls ! For, verily, far yonder in
the length of the file will the file of our grandchildren be removed ! These our
grandchildren who run hither and thither in sport, these our grandchildren who
by creeping drag themselves about in the dust, these our grandchildren whose
bodies are slung to cradle-boards, and even those of them whose faces are looking
hitherward as they come under the ground.'

The identiflable cemeteries of Seriland are few and small— much less
populous thaa might be expected of a tribe numbering' several hun-
dreds for centuries, and able to maintain well-worn trails threading all
parts of their rugged domain. Three graves were noted near the aban-
doned rancheria at Pozo Bscalante; one was observed near a jacal
skeleton at Barranca Salina; five or six were made out doubtfully on a
low spur adjacent to Punta Antigualla; another was found near the
rancheria midway thence to Punta Ygnacio; still another was doubt-
fully identified hard by a ruinous jacal just where the foothills of Sierra
Seri descend to the plain stretching toward Punta Miguel ; and this dis-
tribution may be deemed representative. A scant half dozen percepti-
ble graves were observed near the considerable rancheria of Punta Nar-
ragansett, which was numerously inhabited during the Dewey surveys
of 1873; one was found adjoining the old jacal near Campo TsTavidad;
but none were discovered in connection with the extensive rancheria on
Eada Ballena. The largest known cemetery occupies the triangular
point of shrub-dotted plain pushing out toward the site of the old ran-
cheria at the base of Punta Tormenta ; it comprises perhaps a score of
evidently ancient graves, while two newer ones were found on the peb-
ble bar beyond the jacales. When near the pebbly beaches the graves
are marked by heaps of pebbles and small cobbles, commonly about
the size of those used as hupfs, these cairns being 3 or 4 feet long,
two-thirds as wide, iind seldom over 12 or 15 inches in height: and
most of the cairns are accompanied and enlarged by piles (ranging from
a peck to a bushel) of the scatophagic shells already noted. The graves
remote from pebbly beaches are marked by heaps of cholla stems and
branches, rudely thatched with miscellaneous brambles roughly pinned

^MS in the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology. A somewhat more obscure version was
recorded by Hale in *'Th6 Iro(iuoi8 Boole Rites " : " Kow, there is Einother thin^ -wo say, we younger
brothers. He who has worked for us has gone afar oif ; and he also will in time take with him all
these — the whole body of warriors and also the whole body of women — they will go with him. But
it is still harder when the woman shall die, because with her the line is lost. And also the grand-
children and the little ones who are running around — these he will take away ; and also those that
are creeping on the ground, and also those that are on the cradle-boards ; all these ho will take away
with him." (Brinton's Library of Aboriginal American Literature, number ii, 1883, pp. 141-143.)

MCGEE]

GRAVE CAIRNS OF TIBURON

289*

together by okatilla stems, the shocks being sometimes nearly as high

and broad as the jacales. A few of the scatophagio shells were found

about the bramble-marked graves at Pozo Bscalante, and a single one

at Barranca Salina. In general the association of cemeteries and ran-

cherias, or of graves

and jacales, indicates

that habitations are

usually abandoned for

a time when a death

occurs within or near

them.

The mostconspicuous
cairn seen in Seriland
was well within Tibu-
ron. It, stands on the
southern side of a little
rock-butte about a mile
and a half east- south-
east of Tinaja ' Anita,
south of the main ar-
royo, and near where
the trail from the tinaja
bifurcates toward Ar-
royoCarrizal and Punta
Narragansett, respec-
tively. It is shadowed
by a notably large and widespreading paloverde, and is in the form of
a cone estimated at 7 feet in height and 18 or 20 feet across the base.
The materials, at least on the surface, are rounded pebbles and cobbles,
possibly from the adjacent arroyos, though more probably from the
beaches, of which the nearest is miles away. It was not determined to
be mortuary.'

On the death of the matron, a grave is scooped out by means of shells

1 As ftu indication of the conditions for observation in Seriland, this cairn is fairly typical : it was
seen "but once (on Becember 25, 1895) , and the observation was limited to a few minutes by the attendant
circumstances. On tbe evening before the party landed at Campo Navidad, -vritli the hope of work-
ing up the coast nearly or quite to Punta Tormenta on the following day ; but before morning a down-
bay gale was whitening tbe waters of Eahia Kunkaak so fiercely as to prohibit embarkation. Meantime'
the supply of water — that standard commodity of arid regions — was too nearly exhausted to permit
inaction ; so while Mr Johnson with three guards ascended the Sierra to establish a new topographic
station, the leader of the party with the remaining seven men set out in search of water. The nearest
known aguaje was that of Arroyo Carrizal ; but under the hypothesis that some of the hetter-heaten
trails turning northward might lead to nearer water, one of them was taken ; and after turning back
from half a dozen false scents, the principal trail was followed to the well-known Tinaja Anita, 15
miles by the trail from Campo Navidad ; and here the party watered- It was on the return trip that
the cairn was discovered ; but the party were laden with filled canteens and saucepans and coffeepots,
the day was well spent, and the camp more than a dozen miles distant even over the air line travers-
ing spall-sprinkled taluses and sharp-edged rocks; moreover, the men were naturally and neces-
sarily heavily armed and on constant guard. Accordingly even the short stay and cursory notes
involved an additional mile of darkness on a trail so rough as to cut through shoe-soles and sandals
and catch scents of blood to tempt coyotes to the camp site. Thus it was that the cairn was not more
critically examined and is not more fully described.
17 ETH 19

Fio. 39— Mortuary oUa.

290*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANK. 17

a few yards from her jacal, preference being given to relatively elevated
or commanding points. The excavation is about 30 inches (90 cm.) in
depth; within it is placed first the pelican-skin robe of the deceased,
so arranged as to fold over the body; then the corpse, dressed in the
ordinary costume of life, is compressed into small compass by closely
flexing the knees and bringing them against the thorax, extending the
arms around and along the lower limbs so that hands and feet are
together, and bending the head forward on the chest ; when it is deposited
in the receptacle in such manner as to lie on the left side, facing north-

riG. 40— Woman's fetishes.

ward. Near the face is laid a dish of baked clay or a large shell filled
with food, and beside it a small olla of water (an actual example is
shown in figure 39), while the hupf, awls, hairbrush, oUa-ring, and
other domestic paraphernalia are placed near the hands. Next the
personal fetishes and votive symbols (in the form of puppets or dolls
such as those shown in figure 40 a and h) of the dead mother are slipped
beneath the face, and her paint-cup, with a plentiful supply of paint, is
added; the poor personal possessions, in the form of shell-beads and
miscellaneous trinketry, are then heaped over the face and shoulders,
and these are covered with the superfluous garments and miscellaneous

MCGEE]

MORTUARY SACRIFICES

291*

Fig 41— Tood for the long journey

p-.operty of the deceased. Finally the pelican-pelt bedding is folded

o-,er the body, and two turtle-shells are laid over all as a kind of coffin,

when the grave is carefully filled, and the ground so smoothed as to leave

no mark of the burial. During subsequent hours the stones for the

cairn or the choUa-joints and other brambles for the brush heap are

piled over the spot,

while the scato-

phagic shells are

added at intervals

apparently for

weeks or months

and perhaps for

years after the

burial.

The mortuary
food is carefully se-
lected for appropri-
ate qualities (i. e.,
for "strength" in
the notion of the
mourners). It com-
prises portions of
turtle-flippers, and, if practicable, a chunk of charred plastron — the food
substance especially associated with long and bard journeys — with a few
fresh moUusks, and, judging from a single good example as well as from
analogy, one or two scatophagic shells. The remains of a funerary
feast are illustrated in figures 41 and 42, the latter being the scatophagic

receptacle utilized apparently
in the absence of the custom-
ary Noah's ark. It may be
significant that this shell is
perforated at the apex, evi-
dently by long wave-wear
before utilization, and that
the accompanying oUa bears
marks of having been broken,
then repaired, and afterward
perforated, as illustrated in
the photo-mechanical repro-
duction (figure 39); for these
features perhaps express that idea of "killing" mortuary sacrifices,
ostensibly to fit them to the condition of the deceased, though really
(in subconscious practicality) to protect the sepulcher from predation.^

1 **Xn all stages of development belief runs a close race against cupidity, and is sometimes distanced ;
so the sages learn that even a buried "weapon may he a source of contention, which they thencefor-
ward forestall by breaking or burning it." (Primitive Trephining in Peru; Sixteenth Ann. Sep.,
Bureau of American Ethnology, 1897, p. 22.)

FiQ. i2 — ^Mortuary cup.

292* THE SERI INDIANS [bth.ann.IT

Soon after the death (imiuediately after the burial, so nearly as could
be ascertained) there is an apparently ceremonial mourning, in which
the matrons of the clan, and, at least to some extent, the warriors also,
participate. The mourners wail loudly, throw earth and ashes or ordure
on their heads, and beat and bruise (but apparently avoid scarifying)
their breasts, faces, and arms. This is continued, culminating daily
about the hour of interment, for several days — unless the rancheria is
sooner abandoned, in which case the period of formal mourning is
shortened. '

In addition to the formal mourning of matrons there is a custom of
nocturnal wailing after the death of warriors in battle, and, apparently,
also, following the death of matrons or nubile maidens, which attracts
the notice of frontier rancheros and vaqueros. According to their
accounts the first note of lamentation may be sounded at any hour of
the night by any of the group to which the deceased belonged ; it is suc-
cessively taken up by other members of the party until all voices are
united in a resounding chorus of inarticulate moans, wails, shriller
cries, and wild howls, likened by the auditors to the blood-bellowing of
cattle; if other groups of the tribesmen are within hearing, they, too,
take up the cry, so that the lamentation may extend to the entire tribe
and echo throughout practically all Seriland at the same moment.
The fierce howling and attendant excitement may rise so high in the
group in which the wailing begins that all seem bereft of customary
caution; and sometimes they suddenly seize ollas and weapons, and
decamp incontinently, perhaps scattering widely and racing for miles
before settling again for sleep or watchful guard.

The ideas of the folk concerning death and concerning the relations
between the living and the dead are largely esoteric, and are, moreover,
veiled by the nonequivalence of Seri expressions with the terms of
alien languages.

At least an inchoate belief in a life beyond the grave was intimated
by Mash^m and his companions at Costa Eica, and their circumspec-
tion of speech and mien indicated a strong veneration for, or dread of,
the manes ; though the specific expressions were connected with deceased
matrons, who alone seemed to be prominent in the minds of the clan-
mates. So far as could be gathered the belief seems to be that the
dead find their way back to the primordial underworld, whenpe Earth
and Beings were brought up by Pelican and Turtle (or Shark) respec-
tively, and are liable to return by night with mischievous intent.

The direct expressions of the Seri informants are fully corroborated
by the association of things in interior Seriland. The burial of water
and food, of the personal fetishes and votive objects, and of the highly
prized face-paint belonging to the dead matron, attests anticipation of
a post-mortuary journey; while the temporary abandonment of jacales
and ranoherias and the nocturnal fears and flights alike betoken

MOGEE] THE LONG JOURNEY 293*

dread of sepulchral visitants. The most suggestive of the associa-
tions, i. e., between the scatophagic stores and the sepulchers, awaits
full explanation.

Serial Place op Seri Socialry

In the conventional seriation of social development four stages are
elearly recognizable, viz: (1) Savagery, in which the social organization
is based on blood kinship reckoned in the female line; (2) barbarism, in
which the basis of organization is actual or assumed consanguinity
reckoned in the male line; (3) civilization, in which the laws are based
on property-right, primarily territorial ; and (4) enlightenment, in which
the organization is constitutional and rests on the recognition of equal
human rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now, in
terms of this seriation of general culture-stages, the place of the Seri
tribe is clear. Eeckoning consanguinity wholly in the maternal line,
as they do, they belong in the initial stage of savagery. Accordingly
they pertain to the lower or more primitive of the two great stages
represented by the American aborigines.

A still more refined seriation may be effected, through conspection of
the several lines of activital development — the esthetic and industrial,
and especially the sophic or fiducial, as well as the strictly social; for
these lines are most intimately intertwined. Thus, in the Old World, the
transition from maternal to patriarchal orgauization was accompanied,
and evidently superinduced, by the development of zooculture into
extensive herding; in different districts of the New World, a parallel
transition attended the development of agriculture to a phase involv-
ing the protection of acequias and fields by armed men ; while through-
out primitive life, laws are formulated and enforced chiefly through
appeals to the superphysical or mythologic. Now, review of the Seri
esthetic indicates that the decorative concepts and activities are in
large measure inchoate and are practically confined to a single manifes-
tation, i. e., the delineation of totemic symbols primarily denoting zoic
tutelaries and incidentally connoting the blood-carriers of clans conse-
crated to these beast gods; so that the esthetic motives and devices of
the tribe are essentially zoosematic. In like manner a considerable
part of the technic of the tribe is zoomimip, as already shown, while
even the most highly developed industrial activities occupy the biotic
borderland of mechanical chance rather than the characteristic demotic
realm of intellectual design. So, too, the faith of the folk is exclusively
and overweeningly zootheistic, to the extent that every motion, every
thought, every organized action, every law, every ceremony, is shaped
with reference to mystical potencies vaguely conceived as a pantheon
of maleficent beast- gods; and it is this dark and hopeless faith that
gives character to the tribal esthetic and technic. Concordantly the
faith finds reflection in the very elements of the social organization ;
the matron is the blood-carrier and the lawgiver not in and for herself

294* THE SEEI INDIANS [bth.ann.17

but as the vicarious and visible exponent of an ever-immanent beast-
god— tbe clan tutelary; her appeals to her brothers for administrative
aid are precisely parallel to her intuitive passage from zoomimicry into
the field of mechanical chance defined by protolithic implements; and
the appeal, like the execution of the law either by herself or by her
brothers, is controlled and regulated in absolute deference to the zoic
pantheon. Thus, the inchoate tribal laws, expressed in habitual lines
of action and modes of thought, are by no means conscious products of
human wisdom, but are confidently imputed to a superhumg,n wisdom
on the part of myth-magnified beasts of a mystical olden time; and,
similarly, the power of executing these laws is by no means cognized
as conscious human faculty, but is faithfully imputed to supernal
potencies of mythical monsters. Essentially, therefore, the tribal law
is putatively zoocratic; and the social organization maiy justly be
classed as a putative zoocracy.

To prevent possible confusion, it may be desirable to note spe-
cifically that the Seri government is not matriarchal in any proper
sense. As pointed out elsewhere, matriarchy is not (at least among
the American aborigines) an antecedent of patriarchy, but a correlative
of that form of government; and it would be especially erroneous and
misleading to designate as matriarchal a tribe like the Seri, whose
chiefs and subchiefs (i. e., appellate clan-administratives) are invariably
masculine. Neither would it be just, despite the dominance of matrons
in legislative and judicative matters, to regard the tribal government
as a gyneocracy, such as have been noted in various parts of North
America — e. g., in Souora, according to a current tradition as to the
origin of the name of the province, and among the Porno Indians of
California, according to Gronise as interpreted by Powers;' for the
actual control is exercised by the warrior brothers, while the ideal con-
trol is vested in that zoic pantheon of which the matrons are putative
mouthpieces. Physically and practically the Seri government is an
adelphiarchy, as already indicated; but in the minds of the tribesmen
themselves it is an inchoate theocracy putatively headed by a pantheon
of animate monsters, whose prelates are personified in the painted clan-
mothers. «

Summarily, then, the Seri are zoosematic in esthetic, zoomimic in
technic, zootheistic in faith, and putatively zoocratic in government,
while even the Seri tongue is so largely mimetic or onomatopoetic in
form as to accord with the industries and institutions; and in view of
the intimate interrelations' between the several lines of activity, it
would seem preferable to determine the culture- status from the coinci-
dent testimony of all the lines, but feasible to measure it in terms of
any one or more of these activital lines.

Now, on comparing the characteristics of the Seri with those of other
known tribes of North America, many resemblances and a few differ-

' Tribes of California, pp. 160-lfil.

"f'™^] GENESIS OF INSTITUTIONS 295*

ences are found ; and practically all of the more conspicuous differences
extend in the same direction — i. e., they combine to indicate an excep-
tionally primitive, or lowly, or zoic, plane for the simple savages of Seri-
land. Thus, few tribes are so poor In esthetic as the Seri, and in none
other are the esthetic devices so clearly and so exclusively zoic; few if
any other known tribes so clearly exemplify zoomimic culture; none
other so well represents protolithic culture, and no other known tribe
is so completely devoid of mechanical devices reflecting higher culture;
in general socialry no other known tribe better, or indeed so well, exem-
plifies zoocracy, while in such special features as those of ethnogamic
mating, ceremonial scatophagy, and mortuary magnification of the
blood-carriers, the folk mark the most primitive known phase of cultural
advancement; and although language and faith yield less definite
measure, their testimony is coincident with that of the other lines of
activity. Accordingly the Seri must be assigned to the initial place in
the scale of cultural development represented by the American aborig-
ines, and hence to the lowest recognized phase of savagery.

Two or three corollaries of this placement are noteworthy: (1) In
most of the researches concerning human development conducted by the
anthropologists of the world, attention has been given chiefly or wholly
to the somatic or biotic characters of Homo sapiens; but while various
physical featnresof the Seri suggest bestial afiftnities (as has been pointed
out in an earlier chapter), it is especially significant that the nearest and
clearest indications of bestial relationship are found in the psychical
features of the lowly folk — for zoic faith in its multifarious manifesta-
tions is but a reflection of burgeoning yet still bestial mind.

(2) While human independence of environment culminates in socialry,
the interdependence of activital lines so well revealed in lowest savagery
demonstrates that institutions and all government necessarily reflect
environment; and, at the same time, that the progressive emancipation
from environment signalized in the higher culture-grades measures the
conquest of Nature through industrial activity — for both the productive
work and the attendant exercise cumulatively elevate sapient Man
above mindless Nature.

(3) An adjunct of progress in every stage of development, as indicated
with especial clearness in the earliest stages, is the annulment or
curtailment of both physical and formal law, and the substitution of
cumulatively growing volition : the development of the esthetic passes
from the intuitive toward the ratiocinative, that of the industrial from
the instinctive toward the inventive, and that of the social from the
merely reflective to the vigorously constructive; with every pulse of
progress the subservience to blind chance and imaginative figment
diminishes; and with each increment of sound confidence the ability
to surmount physical obstruction and to dispense with primitive for-
mality is cumulatively augmented.

296* THE SEEI INDIANS [bth.an».17

Language

The bases for definite knowledge of the Seri tongue are the five
vocabularies described on other pages (13, 95, 97, 102, and 107).

The earliest of these vocabularies, comprising eleven terms, was col-
lected in Hermosillo in 1850 by Senor Lavandera, presumably from the
tribal outlaw Kolusio, and transmitted to Senor Ramirez for discussion.
This pioneer vocabulary is superseded by those of later date.

The second Seri word-collection was made by Commissioner Bartlett
at Hermosillo in 1852; it was obtained from Kolusio, and comprises
some two hundred words.

The third vocabulary was obtained at Hermosillo during or about
1860, doubtless from Kolusio, by SeBior Tenochio; it comprises about
one hundred terms; it was discussed and published by Sefior Pimentel,
and served as a basis for the first scientific classification of the tribe
and their collinguals.

The fourth Seri vocabulary was that obtained by M Pinart at Her-
mosillo in 1879, almost certainly from Kolusio; it comprises over six
hundred words, with a few short phrases.

The latest word-collection is the Bureau (or McGee) vocabulary,
obtained on the Seri frontier in 1894 through Mash^m, sultchief of the
tribe; it comprises some three hundred vocables with a few short
phrases, accompanied by explanatory notes.

The several collections are entirely independent: Lavandera's record
was made in Spanish, at the request of liamirez; Bartlett was not
aware of the earlier record, and wrote in English; Tenochio knew
nothing of Bartlett's work, was probably not aware of Lavandera's,
and wrote in Spanish ; Pinart, though French in blood and mother-
tongue, was fully conversant with Spanish, in which his record was
made, and apparently knew nothing of the earlier vocabularies; while
the Bureau recorder had not seen any of the earlier records and had
shadowy knowledge of the existence of two of them only at the time of
making his own.

Naturally the several vocabularies overlap to a considerable extent,
and thus afford means of verification. Those of Bartlett, Tenophio,
and Pinart, all obtained from the same informant, are notably consist-
ent, despite the diversity in language on the part of the recorders; and
their correspondence with the Bureau vocabulary is hardly less close
(except for the comparative absence of terms for alien concepts in the
latter record) than their agreement among each other. Accordingly,
the linguistic collections, although far less full than would be desira-
ble, are fairly satisfa,ctory so far as vocables are concerned ; but unhap-
pily the few short phrases in the Pinart and Bureau collections are
quite too meager to elucidate the grammatic structure of the language.

The aggregate number of vocables in the several records is some
seven hundred. Of these over 97 per cent are apparently distinctive,

"'"'EE] DISTINCT! VENESS OF LANGUAGE 297*

presenting no resemblance whatever to any other known tongue. The
remaining eiighteen or twenty terms reveal resemblances to Aryan,
Piman, Cochimi, or other alien languages; but of these the majority
express Caucasian concepts, familiar enough to the outlaw informant,
Kolusio, though generally unfamiliar to Mash^m and to other actual
inhabitants of Seriland.

A critical census brings out six vocables presenting phonetic corre-
spondences with those of one or more Yuman dialects, viz, the terms for
tongue, tooth, eye, head, blood, and wood or tree. Now, examination
of these terms indicates that the first two probably, and the third and
fourth possibly, are associative demonstratives rather of mechanical
than of vocalic character — e. g., the terms for tooth and tongue are
merely directive sounds accompanying the exhibition of the organs,
so that while the terms may not be onomatopoetic in ordinary sense,
they are instinctively mimetic or directive, in such wise as to indicate
that they may well have arisen spontaneously and independently among
different primitive peoples; also that they might easily pass from tribe
to tribe as an adjunct of gesture-speech. The term for blood is still
more decidedly mimetic of the sound of the vital fluid gushing from a
severed artery, or of normal pulsation, so that it, too, must be classed
as a term of spontaneous development. The Seri term for wood or tree
has an apparent analogue, with somewhat different meaning, in the
Cochimi alone; but since the knifeless Seri made practically no use of
wood in their aboriginal condition, and since the early Jesuit records
show that they sometimes transnavigated the gulf and came in contact
with the wood-using Cochimi, it seems fair to assume that material and
word were borrowed together. A similar sugges ion arises in connec-
tion with the term for dog; although the Seri have lived from time
immemorial in that initial stage of cotoleration with the coyote in
which the adult animals are permitted to scavenger the rancherias,
they were without domestic dogs until these animals were introduced
into northwestern Mexico by the Spaniards, whea they apparently
absorbed the animal and its name at once from their eastern neighbors
of the Piman stock — presumably the Opata, or possibly the Papago,
with both of whom the Seri converts and spies were in frequent contact
during the Jesuits' regime at Opodepe, Populo, and Pitic.

In weighing the linguistic relations, it is to be remembered that the
Seri are distinctive in practically every somatic and demotic character,
that they are bitterly antipathetic to aliens, and that their race-sense
is perhaps the strongest known. It is also to be remembered that they
are zoosematic in esthetic, largely zoomimic in their primitive indus-
tries, putatively zoocratic in government, and overweeningly zoothe-
istic in belief; that nearly all observers and recorders of their char-
acteristics have been impressed by both the distinctiveness and the
primitiveness of their speech; that this speech abounds in associative
demonstratives and instinctive onomatopes to exceptional degree; that

298* THE 8ERI INDIANS [eth.an».17

they class themselves as much more nearly akin to their bestial asso-
ciates than to any alien tribe or people; and hence that their speech is
necessarily zooglossic in considerable, if not unequaled, measure. It
is to be remembered, too, that the law of activital coincidences finds
fullest exemplification in lowest culture, as has been already shown, and
as the zooglossic character of the Seri speech would imply; so that a con-
siderable proportion of fortuitous resemblances might be anticipated.
Finally, it is to be remembered that despite the extreme provinciality
connected with their unparalleled race-sense, the folk have been in
known contact with Caucasian and Amerind aliens for nearly four cen-
turies, and have been steadily, albeit with exceeding slowness, absorb-
ing alien activities and activital products.

In the light of the history and condition of the Seri, a summary of
their vocabulary is of much interest. It is as follows :

Known vocables 700J;

Distinctive terms 682-(-

Terms shared with other tongues ISJ-

Terms connoting Caucasian concepts 11±

Onomatopes and associative demonstratives 5-j-

Term shared with the Cochimi 1

Term borrowed from the Fiman 1

Total 18 J.

Total 700-i-

On weighing this tabulation, in which no allowance is made for
coincidences, it becomes evident that the Seri tongue is essentially
discrete. The tabulation, accordingly, justifies and establishes the
classifications of Pimentel and Orozco y Berra, under which the Seri,
with their collinguals, are erected into a distinct linguistic stock. ,

Pending further research and the completion of the linguistic collec-
tions, it is deemed inexpedient to publish the Seri vocabulary in full,
though the material has been compared, analyzed, and arranged
systematically as was practicable by Mr J. N, B. Hewitt; and his com-
parative tables and discussions, which comprise all the terms suggest-
ing aflQnity with Yumau and other aboriginal languages, are appended.
His morphologic analyses and comparisons are especially noteworttiy
in that they demonstrate that the Seri language is essentially different
in structural relations— or in its genius — from the Yuman tongues of
neighboring territory.

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

[By a. N. B. Hewitt]

Serian Material

A. Seri vocabulary, MoGee, W J, entered in Powell's Introduction to the Study of

Indian Languages, second edition, in November, 1894.

B. Seri vocabulary, Bartlett, J. R., printed blank (180 terms), January 1, 1852.

C. Seri vocabulary, Pinart, A. L., MS. (16ipp.), April, 1879.

D. Seri vocabulary, Tenoobio, D. A., copied by Pimentel, Lenguas Indfgenas de

Mexico, t. II, Mexico, 1875.

Tuman Material

I. Cocbimi vocabulary, Gabb, W. M., printed blank (211 terms), April, 1867.
II. Cochimi vocabulary, Bartlett, J. R., printed blank (200 terms), English and
Spanish, subsequent to June, 1852.

III. Cochimi terms in Clavijero, P. J., Historia de la Antigua 6 Baja California, 1852.

IV. Cochimi vocabulary and texts in Buschmann, J. C. E., Die Spuren der Aztek-

ischen Sprache; Berlin, 1859.

1. Avesupai vocabulary, Stevenson, Mrs T. E., MS., Oct., 1885.

2. Tonto vocabulary, White, J. B., and Loew, Oscar, MS., 1873-1875.

3. Cocopa vocabulary, Heintzelman, S. P., and Peabody, E. T., printed blank (180

terms).
i. Maricopa vocabulary, Bartlett, J. R., printed blank (180 terms).

5. Maricopa vocabulary. Ten Kate, Dr Herman, MS., May, 1888.

6. Mohave vocabulary, Loew, Oscar, printed in Report on United States Geological

Surveys west of the One-Hundredth Meridian, Lieut. G. M. Wheeler in charge,
vol. VII.

7. Mohave vocabulary, Mowry, Sylvester, and Gibbs, Geo., printed blank (180

terms), 1863.

8. Hummockhave vocabulary, Heintzelman, S. P., printed blank (180 terms).

' 9. Mohave vocabulary, Corbusier, W. H., entered in Powell's Introduction, second
edition, in 1885.

10. Hualapai vocabulary, Loew, Oscar, in Report on United States Geological

Surveys west of the One-Hundredth Meridian, Lieut. G. M. Wheeler in charge,
vol. VII.

11. Hualapai vocabulary, Renshawe, J. H., and Gilbert, G. K., entered in Powell's

Introduction, first edition, 2 copies, in 1878.

12. Kutohan vocabulary, Whipple, in Schoolcraft, Historical and Statistical

Information Respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indians
of the United States, pt. li, 118-121.

13. Kutchan vocabulary, Gabb, W. M., printed blank (211 terms), 1867.

14. Diegueno vocabulary, Loew, Oscar, in Report on United States Geological

Surveys west of the One-Hundredth Meridian, Lieut. 6. M. Wheeler in charge,
vol. VII.

15. Diegueno vocabulary, Bartlett, J. R., printed blank (180 terms).

16. Diegueno vocabulary, Mowry, Sylvester, printed blank (180 terms), 1856.

17. H'taam vocabulary, Gabb, W. M., printed blank (211 terms), 1867.

299*

300* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

18. Yavapai vocabulary, Corbusier, "W. H., entered in Powell's Introduction, first

edition, in 1873-1875.

19. Yavapai vocabulary, Gatschet, A. S., MS., 1883.

20. M'mat vocabulary, Helmsing, J. S., printed blank (211 terms), 1876.

21. Santa Catalina vocabulary, Hensbaw, H. W., entered in Powell's Introduction,

second edition, in 1884.

22. Tulkepaya vocabulary. Ten Kate, Herman, in Gatschet, Der Yuma-Sprach-

stamm, Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, Band x\iii, 1886.

23. Kiliwee vocabulary, Gabb, W. M., printed blank (211 terras), 1867.

24. Diegueno vocabulary, Bartlett, J. K. (Los Angeles), printed blank (180 terms).
24a. Diegueno vocabulary, Henshaw, H. W., entered in Powell's Introduction,

second edition, in 1884.

25. Santa Isabella vocabulary, -jh^jj^^^^ g. W., entered in Powell's Introduc-

26. Hawi Rancheria vocabulary, ^^^^^^ ^^.^.^^_ j^ ^ggg

27. Mesa Grande vocabulary, J

General Discussion

The members of a group of languages called Yuman are spoken in a region com-
prising a part of the peninsula of Lower California, the southern extreme of Cali-
fornia, and the western portion of Arizona. In this group of languages ethnologists
have hitherto included that spoken by the Seri Indians and their congeners. But
the inclusion of this language rests apparently upon evidence drawn from data
insufficient in extent and largely imperfect and doubtful in character. In the fol-
lowing pages this evidence is examined, and the conclusion is reached that it does
not warrant the inclusion of the Seri tongue in the Yuman group. The same is true
vrith regard to the Waikuri (Guaicuri) language, which has been erroneously, it
would seem, included in the Yuman stock; for, judging from present available data,
it should remain independent until further research shall decide whether it con-
stitutes a stock in itself or belongs to some other stock.

Moreover, it appears that the principle has been disregarded which requires that,
inmakinglexic comparisons to determinethefact and degree of relationship between
one language and another, those vocables having admittedly a common linguistic
tradition be carefully and systematically studied before they are juxtaposed to those
other terms whose kinship with them is still matter for ascertainment. So com-
parative lists have been prepared in accordance with this principle.

Now, one of the most important things revealed by the study of language is that
the course of anthropio linguistic development has been from the use of poly sematic
demonstratives, or what are called pronominative elements by Professor McGee,
toward the evolution and differentiation of parts of speech. These vocables, which
occur in all languages, are of prime importance in linguistic research because they
are chiefly vestigial in character. Presumptively embodying the indefinite thought-
clusters of the anthropoid stage in glottic evolution, they project into the speech of
the present (the anthropic stage) an outline or epitome of that earlier pronomina-
tive plane of thought and speech development. These pronominsitive elemejits rep-
resent a complex of ideas, comprising person, place, direction, number, time, mode,
gender, sex, and case (or relation). In the Iroquoian tongue the pronominative
prefix }'a-, "he", signifies "oue person of the anthropic gender, male sex, singular
number, nominative case, there, now". Professor MoGee in The " Beginnings of
Mathematics," speaking of the paramount egoistic basis of the thought of primitive
men, well says : " They act and think in terms of a dominant personality, always
reducible to the Ego, and an Ego drawn so large as to stand for person, place,
time, mode of action, and perhaps for raison d'etre — it is Self, Here, Now, Thus,
and Because.''

Now, there are in nature actions, bodies, properties, and qualities requiring definite
expression to give clearness and concision to speech, and this need gradually led to
the development and use of conceptual expressions resulting in gradual restriction

"''°™] COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY 301*

of the multiplication of, and diminution in the number of, pronominatiTe elements.
Speech became specific rather than monophrastio and indefinite, and sought to
express individual concepts by terms of definite meaning rather than by phrases
involving a plurality of concepts and indefiniteness. The monophrasm or pronomi-
inative element expressive of several individual ideas ia resolved not by a division
of the body of the element, but rather by the addition of elements denotive (though
primarily conuotive) of action, which had been previously wholly or in part symbol-
ized by the pronominative element, or in part inferred from the situation.

Thus it may be seen that these pronominative elements, miscalled pronouns, are
not substitutes for nouns, but that the converse statement is the truer one. These
elements have been classed together as forming a part of speech in the same cat-
egory with the noun and the verb; but it has been seep that the pronominative
is not at all a part of speech, involving somatically within itself the distinct con-
cepts of several so-called parts of speech. To make this plain, take from the highly
differentiated English tongue the following sentences: "J will give you to her.
What can it be? The elk is one of the most timid animals that walk." In the first,
I, you, and her respectively show the relation of the three persons indicated, not
only to the act of giving but also to the act of speaking, a function that does not
belong to nouns; without change of form they express what is called person, num-
ber, case, and sex. And it would be extremely difficult, if not absolutely impossible,
to supply the nouns for which what in the second and that in the third are substi-
tutes ; for in the last, not even a noun and a conjunction will answer. Such in part
are the concepts for which the pronominative elements stand and which give them
such great vitality.

Along with these pronominative elements go the numerals, which were primarily
the products of a process of cancellation of common factors from original expressions
connoting the required number ; and so when once the abbreviated expressions became
usual there was no disposition to displace them, and increasing use making them more
definite, rendered them more and more permanent. This in brief is the chief cause of
the obstinate persistency of numerals in all known languages. An examination of
the accompanying lists of number-names will greatly aid in understanding what is
meant. The late Professor Whitney, when discussing these elements in the Aryan
or Indo-European family, uses the following instructive language:

"When, however, we seek for words which are clearly and palpably identical in
all or nearly all the branches of the family, we have to resort to certain special
classes, as the numerals and the pronouns. The reason of this it is not difficult to
point out. For a large portion of the objects, acts, and states, of the names for
which our languages are composed, it is comparatively easy to find new designa-
tions. They offer numerous salient points for the names-giving faculty to seize
upon; the characteristic qualities, the analogies with other things, which suggest
and call forth synonymous or nearly synonymous titles, are many. * » » But
for the numerals and the pronouns our languages have never shown any disposition
to create a synonymy. It was, as we may truly say, no easy task for the linguistic
faculty to arrive at a suitable sign for the ideas they convey; and when the sign
was once found, it maintained itself thenceforth in use everywhere, without danger
of replacement by any other of later coinage. Hence, all the Indo-European
nations, however widely they may be separated and however discordant in manners
and civilization, count with the same words and use the same personal pronouns in
individual address — the same, with the exception, of course, of the changes which
phonetic corruption has wrought upon their forms." '

And it is on account of the great vitality and persistency of these two groups of
vocables that the pronominative elements and the numerals have been given first
place in the comparison between the Seri and the Yuman tongues to determine
relationship or want of relationship between the two languages.

< Language and the Study of Language, New York, 1874, pp. 194-195.

302*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANM. 17

COMPARATIVK LiSTS OF SeEIAN AND YUMAN PRONOUNS

In the pronominal lists tlie eight pronominativea I, we, thou, ye, he, they, that,
and this are compared. The comparison reveals no satisfactory evidence of rela-
tionship hetween the two tongues represented therein. In the list headed "Thou",
there is, it is true, a vague resemblance between some of the examples cited; but
this is the extent of the agreement among the pronominative elements.

Along with these pronominal lists comparative tables of fifty conceptual terms
have also been made. The vocables have been subjected to a discriminating anal-
ysis which fails to show any trustworthy evidence of genetic relationship between
the Serl and the Ynman languages. These tables will be found at the end of the
numeral lists.

The comparative pronominal lists follow :

Thou

B. ive

C. eve, ivve

D. ibe, i, in

6ve
ove

me
me

move "
movve

1. ya

11. bu

2. nyaa

4. n'yep

5. enyip

7. inyeeippa

8. ainyapi

9. inyiStc

6. iniepa
10. any^a

12. n'yat

13. nyet

14. inyau
24. n'ya

16. enyahpah

17. nyat

19. nyat, nia

20. n'n^p

22. nyS

23. nyapa

15. n'yapa

e-6

t^lballa

m^gi

b'dowwadnge

matesheh^mk

ainyepi

inyStcablto

huatcva

nyetchelechaml

ikhin

n'yawaS,p

n';

nawot

maa

man

mainye

mahinye

howanye

mantc

manya

maa

mantz

manya

nyau

nyaa'

panyapa

n'yawa

mat
miit
mafi

m'apa
m'apa

me-(S

muguti

yamakamvi

n'y^tohes

hanyis

^nak
mantcawitc

koonyemitch

vuyau-khumau

n'yawa^p

manyawapa

mad

mandchequedic

matche

pamaba

imV

imki

itam

11.

ugutd

v'ddin

They

move (forimkove)
imkove

That

ugultf

b6mi, manidsi
awatches

imke
imki
itam

YUMAN

kwumba
ugut^
owd,
ab^nyim

Thia

ipkd

k'hu

yamiS

b(Smi, n'wagi

b'dan

MCaEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

303*

5. sewalnye

6. liuvSnya

7. mSCnya

8. howanm(Seme

9. huvatoe
10. nyu(5e

12. habuitzk

13. abilkoowan

14. itcham

15. pu
16.

17. nyip

19. net

20. abffi

22. yeth^a

23. tSpa

24. mats

hanyls

paichsama

nayew
iuyiStoawinto

sakewauk

kitch^muyri

pu-wliptoh

nyeep

let, iat

s'tubSn

nilifLtchewa

pachawit

maw^pa

■wedafn

hov^nye

kuuolxa, "What do

you say f "
howai
nyanya

nyasl

pii

pu-witoh

memuchu

kooacha

s'tubdlfl.

nyepat
ptiaisis

sewain
vitanya
n'yaveoh

howanmiimi

vifanya

viyiia

badam

piyfe

p'ya,

nepte

mop

iat, iet

cezdfi, vedSn

mihl
piyals

VOCABDLAHY LiSTS OF SeRIAN NUMERALS

The following comparative table of Serian numerals represents all the accessible
number-names in existing records of Serian linguistic material. M Pinart records
two lists of number-names from "one" to "ten", and says of the first list, "Quaudo
se ouenta seguido", for counting consecutively.

It will be of interest to note the fact that the forms of the digit " eight", in the
vocabularies of Professor McGee and Mr Bartlett, with the latter's " eighteen ", differ
wholly from the elements representing "eight" in their terms for "eighty". The
term employed by them is recorded by M Pinart in his second list and also by Sr
Pimentel. Another peculiarity to be noted in the vocabulary of Mr Bartlett is the
fact that for the numbers "thirteen" and "eighteen" he writes the same form.
The latter is evidently miswritten, as the two are composed of identical elements.
The explanation of this seems to be that in the former there is a subaudition of the
element "ten", and in the latter of the element "fifteen".

It is equally instructive to mark the fact that the terms denoting "two, three,
four, five" retain or preserve their fuller forms iu their multiples, as in "twenty,
thirty, forty, and fifty".

The lists follow :

Fimentel (cit-
McGee Pinart Bartlett ing Tenoehio)

t6'xtin

tok;i;om

tashsho

tohom

taso, tujon

ghii'kum

ka;['kum

kookx'

kahom

kokjl, kujom

ph^um

p';);'ao

kap^'a

phraom

kupjtku

s4'hkum

sho;);'knm

k8hu;i;'kiia

Bcochhom

kosojkl
.koHojhl

kwiJetOm

knaotom

koo;);tom

huavat'hom

kouton

nShpsuk

napsho^'

imapkasho

napk'schoch

snapkashroj

k^hkwuu

ka;t:k;t:ue

tomka;i;kue

kachqhue

tomkujkoui

p^hkwuQ

V'XB-^X^e

ksho;);olka

phraque

osrojoskum

ksdkhfint

Bop;anthe

ksovikanl;);'

soh^intl

ksobbejoaul

10.

khdhnut'

Xonsdx'

kanl;i:'

honachtl

taul

11.

tanl^sdqne

12.

tanchltoque

13.

tauohtaphraqhue

14.

[tanchltasoochhom] '

> This form waa not reoordecl by the collector, but has been formed by analogy by the writer.

304*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

30.

40.

50.

60.

70.

80.

90.
100.
200.
300.
400.
500.
600.
700.
1000.

untpkO'k

untfko'pka

iintfkso'k

flntskditura

lintfgsnupku'soliOp

iintf tfing a Ts wtt'k

ii'ntfkuschohotkum

iintfksegrmt

uutfgiSnt'

finz-tt'ntf-ko'k

tinz-tintp -ko'pka

ttnz-untf-kflksclio'k

unz-unt5-k6itum

ttnz-untf-flsnupku'schos

unz-untc-diiinkwiittk

unz-untp ku'nz

tanohlhuavat'hom
tanchlisohnapk'schooh
tanchltnmk achqhne
tanchlphraqhue
tanohlsovihantlqhue
kaiil;r' kook;^' eanslkoch tauljaukl

eans'lkapka
eans'lacoch
eanslkovat'hom
eansly'schnapk'schoch
eansltumkachqlii] e
eanslhsohoholclikom
eanslsovikantl
hiantlkantl taul taul

VocABULAiiY Lists of Yuman Numerals
Kilkvee (23) Cochimi (I) Coehimi (III) Cochimi (IVo) Laymon (IV6)

1. mesig

2. hooak

3. hamiak

4. m n o k =

"(fingers)
down '

5. sol chepam

6. m'sig - elee-

pai

7. hooak- elee-

pai

1. ohaqui

2. kooak

3. kal)iak

•1. iohkyum-
kooak

5. nyaki-vam-

pai

6. ichkyum-

kabiak

7. ckaquera-

vampai

1. tepeeg

2. gogud

3. combi6

4. magaoubu-

gu^

5. uagaundi te-

jueg igni-
mel^"uiia
mano e n -
tera" '

1. tejueg (in 5 te- 1.

juep) dujven- 2.
idi, dujuenidi

2. gognd

3. kombio, kam-

biec, combiec, 3.
cambiec 4.

4. magacnbuguEl 5.

5. naganua-tejuep 6.

^"one hand"

tejoe

gowac, ka-
wam, ka-
moe="the
other "

kamioec

nauwi

hwipey

kamioec ka-

wam^"two

three "

1 '*De este numeTo en adelante los mas inoultos se confunden y no saben decir mas que ; rnuchos y
muchisimos ; pero los que tienen algun iugenio siguen la numeracion diciendo ; una mano y uno, una
mano y dos, etc. Para expreaar diez, dicen : NagamnA ignimbal demu^ueg, esto es, todas las manos :
para quince dicen las manos y un pi6, y para veinte las manos y los pi6s, cuyo niimero es el t6rmino
d^ la aritm^tica cochimi. Los que han aprendido el espaSiol saben nuestro modo de contar."

" From this number onward tbe most ignorant are confused and are only able to say many and v^ry
many; but those who have some ingenuity continue the numeration by saying one hand and one, one
hand and two, etc. To express ten they say, nagannd igniinbal demuejueg, that is, all the hands; for
fifteen they say the hands and a foot, and for twenty the hands and the feet, at which number ends
*he Cochimi arithmetic. Those who have learned Spanish know our method of counting." (Clavi-
gero, Historia, etc., p. 22.)

In this citation Padre Clavigero succinctly portrays the cumbersome number series of the Cochimi
and other Amerinds of the Califomian peninsula. Moreover, the Cochimi terms of Clavijero and
those cited from Hervas by Herr Buschmann seemingly suggest a common source of information,

Ducrue (in Murr, Journal zur K^unstgeschicht^, Niirnberg, 1787, vol, xii, pp. 294) expresses doubt
as to the nauwi of the Laymon column, not knowing whether it is Kahuatlau or vernacular to the
Laymon language. It certainly has an alien aspect. Of Laymonic number names Ducrue says that
the Laymon can count singly to five, and then they repeat themselves.

The following citation may be of interest here :

" The Californians know very little of arithmetic, some of them being unable to count further than
six, while others can not number beyond three, insomuch that none of them can say how many fingers

MCOEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY 305*

8. li a m i a k - 8.

nyaki-vam-

10. naganna - ifiim-

eleepai

ivapai

bal-demnejeg

9. m'sigk-tkinatg.

q u a c h era-

=" all the fin-

10. chepam-me-

vampai

gers"

sig 10.

ny avani-

15. naganna - inim-

11. mesigk-mal-

h a q 11 1 ;

bal-demuejeg

ha.

"no con-

agannapa=

12. hooak-mal-

tamos mas

" all fingers,

adelante."

foot"

20. c h e p a m -

20. naganna agan-

hooak

napa-inimbal-

30. h e p a m -

demuejeg^

lioomiak

fingers, toes.

40. cliepam-

all"

misuok

50. mesig quin-

quedit-sol-

ohepam

60. chepamme-

sig quin-

queditme-

sigelepaip

70. chepam me-

sig quin-

q u e d i t

hooak-ele-

paip, etc.

Mohave (6)

Hualapai flO)

Tonto or <

Gohun (2) Diegueno (14)

1. as^entik

sitik

si si, shiti

khink

2. havik

hovak

uake

dak

3. Lamok

hamok

moke

hamok

4. tchungbabk

hob^

h6ba

tchibabk

5. harabk

hat^buk

satab^

selkhakai

6. siyinta

tasbek

geshbiS

niugushbai

7. viiga

ho^geshbek

hoageshbe niokhoak

8. muugd;

hamligeshbek

mogeshbe

niokhamnk

9. paaya

halathiiig

halseye

nitchibab

10. arSabS

vn^ruk

nave

selghiamSt

11. as^entik nitauk

sitigitilaga

uave-shiti

niekhin

12. havik nitauk

hovaktidlik

nave-uake

niekhvabgushbaib

20. ar^-bavik-taka

- vavahovak

uake-uave

selghhodk

vuts havik

30. arabavik-taka

.- vavahamok

moke-nave

vuts-ham6k

40.

hoba-uave

50.

satabe-uave

he has. They do not possess anything that is worth counting, and henoe their indifference. It is all
the same to them whether the year has six or twelve months, and the month three or thirty days, for
every day is a holiday with them. They care not whether they have one or two or twelve children,
or none at all, since twelve cause them no more expense or trouhle than one, and the inheritance is not
lessened by a plurality of heirs. Any number beyond six they express iu their language by much,
leaving it to their confessor to make out whether that number amounts to seven, seventy, or seven
hundred." — Jacob Baegert, in Smithsonian Beport, 1864, p. 388.

17 ETH 20

306*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

COMPARATIVK LiSTS OP SbRIAN AND YUMAN NUMERALS

ONE

Serian

A. t6';i;un, stem to'x-

B. tohom, stem toh-, or tox-
|tok;[om, stem tokx-

■ Itashslio, stem taah-
P, ftaso, stem tas-
'Itujon, stem tux-, "first"

I.
II.

24.

25.

14,
23.

12,

27,
6.

15,
5.

20,

17,

16.

3.
13.
26,

19.
1.

22.

18.

10.

21.

11.
III.
IV.

Tuman

ohaqui, chax'-, or xax'-
dopf
h'in
h'in
6'hink'
khiuk

mesig, -sig ( ?)
sayto
seto
Jaisfintio
Isin
sin

as^entik
shen
shendfb
sh^ntic
ashentlk
shin
fasshin
Ishin
shitti
Bin
Sssin
issiutaich
sisi
sisi
sita
sit6
sfti
sitik
Ssltika
sitta

tejueg, tepeeg

tejoe, tejueg, tejuep, dujuenidi, duj-
venidi

In examining the Serian column, it is apparent that the several forms for the
numeral "one" are homogeneous, their varying outlines being due to the language of
the collector, and especially to the alphabet employed by him. An apparently aber-
rant form is the iashsho (C) and taso for tashsho (D). The stem of the digit is pre-
sumptively to'x- or tokx-; and tos/i- is related to tokx- in the same manner as
duchess is to duke in the English tongue.

The Yuman column is more extensive than the Serian, representing as it does sev-
eral trell-marked dialects. It -will be seen that the Diegueno terms for the digit
"one" collected by Mr Bartlett (15) and Lieutenant Mowry (16) are evidently from a
common stem, while that recorded by Dr Loew (14) is as clearly from a different one.
But the DiegueHo term (24) obtained by Bartlett near Los Angeles ig apparently a
modifled form of the one obtained by Dr Loew. The two forms (25) obtained by Mr
Henshaw at Mesa Grande confirm this view. While these forms apparently differ
wholly from the remainder of the Yuman list, yet it seems safe to connect them with
the Cochimi digit (I) collected by Dr Gabb. On the other hand, the Cochimi of

MCQEEl

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

307^

Bartlett (II) introduces another term which appears to be kin to the Laymou (III, IV).
The remainder of this list presents modified forms of a single vocable, which appears
to have been a demonstrative. Compare these with Mohave aae'nUnte, "an other",
and sgnta, "the other one"; also with the Yavapai at'temi, "an other", and with
despg-MJca, "other, the other one".

Serian

A. ghdrlium, ghd'k-

B. kahom, kah- or kax-
Q /ka;i;'kum, fco^fc-

lkook;i;', hoohx'
J) /kokjl, hokx-
Ikujom, kux-

Yuma

goguo

III

gogu6

gowac (Laymen) ; kawam ;kamoe.

"the other"

guwSke

habeeka

habiok

15.

habick

20.

jublo (j as in Spanish)

havik

12a.

havick

havika

21.

haw^ka

12ft.

hawiok

13.

hawik

18.

hSwtfki

;t;awik

23.

hooak

10.

-hovak

howook

17.

howok

16.

howuk

howwaich

19.

hudka

huwaka

24.

h'wach

11a.

hwaga

25.

kawii'k

26.

kawu'k

14.

6ak

uake

116.

w^ga

kooak

The Serian examples of the digit " two " are of such phonetic character as to warrant
the inference that they are derivatives from a single phrasm of demonstrative origin,
the differences in their orthography being due chiefly to the language and training
of the collectors and to the difference in the alphabets employed. There is evi-
dently phonetic and eematio relationship between the stem of this digit and the
-kah in such demonstrative elements as ish-kak, "here (where I am), now, then";
ikx'-kaka, " near " ; imk-ahaka for imk-kaka, " there where he, she, is, they are " ; akki-
kak, "whither? to- where? whence?"; tox'-kaka, "far, distant, far off"; and also
with iki in akki-iki, " where ?". In these examples the affix akki- has an interrogative
force. The meaning of -kak is that of contiguity or proximity to the Here, the Self.

Now, the fuller Yuman list presents several forms seemingly closely accordant,
phonetically at least, with the Serian terms, but these being merely divergent rep-
resentatives of the distinctively Yuman term which does not accord with the Serian

308*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

form, are of no avail to prove relationship. The available material pertaining to
this group supplies but scant data for ascertaining the derivation of the Yuman
digit. But, in addition to the connection of the Laymon gowae, with Icawam, " the
other", it may be that it is permissible to compare here owd (2), "that" iu Tonto,
the Mohave huvd-nya (6), "he, that", the Hummockhave liowa-nm^eme (8), "he", and
howai (8), "that", the Mohave huva-toe (9), "he", the Kutchan hahu-itzk (12), "he",
the Kiliwi liapa (23), "he", and other terms, which suggest its origin. From the
foregoing explanations, there appears to be no lexio relationship between the Serian
and the Yuman digits denoting "two ".

Serian

A. phSum, j)/ia'-

B. phraom, phra- or phxa-

Q tV'x'^o, P'Xa-

'lkap;t;'a, kapx-
D. tupjtku, kupx-

Tvman

„ rcambiec
' toombieo

11. combi6
III. combid

I. kabiak
rkambieci
IV.-I kamioeo l(Laymon)
IkombieeJ

23. hamiak

4. hamdck

24. hamock

15. ham6k

6. hamok

25. hamo'k

26. hamo'k

10. hamok

7. hamoka
9. hamoka
3. hamoke

12. hamfiok

21. hamiika

22. hamtike

18. hSmtiki
14. hamok
17. homook

8. homuck

16. hummoke

1. humuga
20. jam6c (j as iu Spanish)

5. ;famu'k

11. (ha) moga

2. moke

19. m(3ki

13. mook

The Serian forms of the name for the digit "three" are evidently derivatives from
a single term. This vocable appears to be emahk, "one-half" (McGee), found also
in the name for the middle finger as given by both Professor MoGee and M Pinart,
the former writing unulte-mii'ka'p, and the latter inol'Vemakkap, "middle finger".
In the Iroquoian languages also, "three" is etymologically " the middle one '', l.o.,
the middle finger, a signification arising from the primitive method of using the
fingers as counters in numeration. The middle finger is the third one counting from

MCUEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

309*

either side of the hand. The form Icapx'a (C) of M Pinart apparently retains almost
unchanged its primitive phonetic outline.

The Yuman list of the dialectic forms of the digit "three" is full and is evi-
dently composed of derivatives from a single source. This parent stem seems to
be the attributive hami, "tall, long", of the Mohave vocabulary. The form hamiah
signifies "it is long, tall", and is an appropriate name for the middle finger of the
hand. The Kili wee hamiak, "three ", still preserves unchanged the phonetic integrity
of its component elements. These etymologies fail to develop any lexio relationship
between the Serian and the Yuman terms.

Serian

A. sa'hkiim, sd'hlc-

B. scochhom, scochh-
Q rsho;i;'kum, shox'-

lksu;i;'kiia, ksuxii'
jy fkosojkl, Tcoaoxk-
Ikosojhl, koBoxh-

' Yuman
chaimpap'k

ohap6p

chepap

ohoompapa

ch'pap

ch'pop

churap^p

15.

chumpSp

16.

chnpop

20.

ohuump^p

s'pap

styumpdp

26.

tcap^p

14.

tohibabk

tchungbabk

tcimp^pa

h6ba

10.

hoba

11.

hoopb^

h6pa

18.

hop^

19.

h6pa

21.

hop^

22.

hup^

iohkyum-kooak, (^=ix

'kium-kuak)

II.

maga-cubugua

III.

maga-oubuguS

23.

mnok( ?), " (fingers)
together"

closed, lying

IV.

uauwi (Laymon)

The Serian examples of the digit "four" are evidently mere variants of a common
original, the derivation and signification of which the meager linguistic material at
hand seems not to supply. In no manner do these forms accord with those of the
Yuman list below, thus barring any inference of relationship.

The Yuman list presents apparently only three different terms for the digit
"four". "Without the m'eans of obtaining even a partially accurate view of the his-
torical development of such a form as the Mohave chaimpap'k (8), it is nevertheless
instructive to compare it with the Cochimi iclikyum-kooak (I), the literal meaning -
of which is "two repeated". This apparently gives a clew to both the derivation
and signification of the Mohave term. The initial ohaim- is seemingly a modified form
of the prefix ichkyum-, signifying "repeated, again, iterated". If this identifica-
tion be correct, as it certainly seems to be, then the final -pap'k is the duplicated

310*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

form of the numeral "two", the variants of the stem of which are as follows: huh-,
hob-, liav-, and kai-. This ehaim- changes to olia-, die-, choom-, chu-, ohuum-, styum-,
tcim-, tchi-, oh'-, s'-, and tchung-, while pap'k appears as pop, pap, and papa. The next
stem is that of the Tonto hoba (2), which is apparently cognate with the verb hobam,
"to set, lie down", like the sun and moon, referring %o the fact that when the fingers
are "all lying down" the count is "four". The following six terms are apparently
cognate with this Tonto form. The Cochimi (I) has already been mentioned. Its final
Jcooah is the numeral "two", and the prefix, as explained above, signifies "repeated,
again, iterated". The next two forms (II) and (III) are apparently composed of the
iterative, or rather additive, prefix mojra-, "added, over", and a form of the Cochimi
numeral "two", gogub. The Kiliwi mnolc signifies "lying together, closed", as the
fingers, thus approximating in sense the Tonto hoba, above.

Serian

A. kwSetum, Icwde-tilm

B. huavat'hom, kova-t'hom
fkuaotom, Icuao-tom

■\koo;i;tom, koox-tom
D. kouton, kou-ton

Yuman

8. hairrap'k

6. harabk

22. her^pe

18. hgrii'pi

10. hat^buk

11. hftt^pa

2. satab^
IV. hwipey (Laymon)

11. muguacogiii

III. nagannS tejue^ ignimel =: "one
whole hand"

IV. nagannatejuep = "one hand"
I. nyakivampai

9. garh^pa

7. tharrapa
4. sar^p
o. sar^p

13. sarap

15. sarSp
17. sarap
24. sarap

20. saar^p

16. sarrap

14. selkhatai

12. ser^p

21. seriipa

19. sar^pi

23. sol-chepam

3. s'rap

The several forms of the Serian numeral "five" appear to be derivatives from a
common original. There seems to be no doubt that it is a compound expression,
meaning "one full, complete (hand) ". The final -turn, -t'hom, -torn, and -ton are evi-
■ dently forms of i<5';i;M«, tohom, tohxom, meaning "one", while the initial kwde-,huava-,
(kova- in " fifty"), koox-, and kou- are apparently derived from the term kov', occur-
ring in ishshax' kov', "full, complete moon".

In the Yuman list, however, there are several different stems employed to desig-
nate the digit "five". The forms sarap, aerdp, harabk, and hairrap'k are clearly
variants of a single original. Its literal signification, li,owever, is not so evident,
but from the data at hand the inference is warranted that it signifies "entire,
whole, complete". In the Mohave of Dr Corbusier hi-gal kogardpa signifies "the

MCGEE]

COMPAEATIVE LEXICOLOGY

311^

■whole hand", and "fingers", kofafdpa being also written TcothaT-dpa. Now, Id-sal
means "his hand ", and ko^afapa or Tcofhafdpa would soon lose its initial ho-, from the
wear to which it is subjected. In Tiatdbuk, hutdpa, and satoft^anew stem is to be
recognized; it signifies "to grasp", or rather "grasps", and is found in aauwa
sataia, "fire-tongs", in which aauwa means "fire" and satdba "to hold, take hold".
The reference here is to the clasped hand as signifying the digit "five", because in
counting the fingers are bent down upon the palm of the hand, the result being a
closed or clasped hand. Now, in sellch-ahai and sol-chepam, a form of the usual sal,
"hand", occurs, and -akai and -chepam have presumptively a signification sematically
equivalent to Tcogafapa and sataia in the preceding Yuman examples, but the meager-
ness of the material at hand prevents the setting forth of the data necessary to prove
this conjecture; yet it may be stated that if the term "hand" is a constituent ele-
ment of the name for the digit "five", it is because of the fact that the fingers and
the thumb thereof are in number "five", so that "the entire hand, the whole hand,
the complete hand", may become the name for the digit "five"- Hence, when the
word hand is an element of the name thereof, as it is in the present instance, it is
presumptively certain that some word like " entire, complete, whole, clasped, bent
down", must form the other element of the compound. The Cochimi (II) muguacogiii
is seemingly a combination olmugua for the cognate humuga, "three", and cogiii for
gogud, "two". And the Cochimi (I) nyaTcivampai is a compound of gi-nyak, "hand"
Imi-nyak, foot], and some element denoting the completion of the count of the digits
of one hand, -i~vampai or vampai. The Cochimi (III) and (IV) are self-explanatory,
naganna, signifying "hand", while Laymen (IV) is not explainable from the acces-
sible data. These analyses fail to show genetic relationship between the two lists, in
so far as the digit "five" is concerned.

SIX

Serian

A. nahpsuk

B. napk'schoch
p rnapsho;r'

(imapkaeho
D. snapkashroj

Ttiman
2. geshbe
8. hamhoke

13. hoomahook

17. hoomahook

15. humhfick

16. humhoke
12. humhdok

24. hnmhock

4. humh6que

20. joumjdo (j as in Spanish)

5. ;i;em;i;TSk

I. ichkynm-kabiak
ly. kamioec kawam ^2x3

8. maike-siu-kenaioh
23. m'sig-eleepai

14. niu-gushbai

25. kumhok

26. kumhok
7. seeinta

9. siinta

6. siyinta

18. de-sp6

10. ta-sbe-k

19. te-shb<S
21. te-shp6'-k

22. te-zp6

11. tft-sp6'
1. tii-rspe

312* THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

The given forms of the Serian digit "six" areevidentlymere variants of a common
original, which seems quite naturally to have been composed of the stem -apka of the
numeral "three", and of both a prefix and a suffix. The prefixes, for there are two,
are, to judge from the one in imapTcaaho, demonstrative in character. It maybe
compared with im- in imi:', " lie "; Jmfo, " that "; imfcoM, " they "; imfci, " that ", in which
it appears to be a directive prefix. And the initial n- and an- may be cognate in
origin. But the final -suk, -'schooh, -shox', -slw, and -shroj, according to the audition
or otosis of the collector, must mean "repeated, doubled, again", etc, or an equiva-
lent. Hence, the Seri number " six " would be literally " three repeated ".

In the Tuman column at least eight different elements are involved in the forma-
tion of the digit "six" in the several dialects of the group. The digits "two" and
"three" compose the larger portion of the forms, resulting in such outlines as
hamholce, hoomahook, humhoJce, humhdque, xemxiik, kwmliok. Hamok (10), "three", is a
characteristic form of this digit, and Aooafc (23), TiaUck (4), and hudka (19), 6ak (14),
uake (2), are characteristic outlines of the digit "two". Compare these two lists.
The final -)!; of the numeral "three" is elided in composition, as it is merely a predi-
cative element, as has been indicated in discussing the Yuman digit " three " ; hence,
Tiani- or lium-, symbolizing "three", with the sufifixion of such forms as hooak, hudka,
on uake, "two", readily becomes humlioke or liamhoke, literally "two threes". In
such forms as geahbe (2), desp4 (18), and niuguslibai (14) there occurs a common ele-
ment -ahbe, -sp4, or -sUai, which evidently signifies "added, over, plus", just as
-eleepai does in m' aig-eleepai (23), "'six", literally "one added, one more than". The
ge- or -g- in (2) is evidently the final g of the Kiliwi form of the numeral one, meaig,
m'aig, which may have at one time been the digit " one" in the Tonto (2) ; so that
geahbe or g-eahbe stands for an earlier meaig-eshbe, "six", literally "one added (to
five)". The term de-sp^ is evidently a contracted form of aimta-spe, "one added", as
the other similar forms show. Compare ta-sbe-k (10) and aiinta (9) and siyinta (6), in
the last two of which the suffix is wanting or at least overlooked by the collector.
In ichkyum-kabiak (I) the digit kabiak, "three", occurs, so that iohkyum must mean
"repeated, again, iterated", just as it was shown in the remarks on the digit four.
Now, the form maike-ain-kenaieli is, perhaps, an ordinal and not a cardinal. The
initial maike- signifies " more, over, added, plus ", the final -kenaioh is the doubtful
part, and the middle portion -ain- is a contracted form of sinta, aiinta, "one", as
may be seen in the list of the Yuman forms of the digit "one". One other form
remains to be considered. The Diegueno (14) of Dr Loew has niu-gu-ahbai (the
syllabication is the writer's, showing the elements of the combination). An exam-
ination of the digits "seven", "eight", and "nine" reveals the fact that the initial
niii- has the value of "added, over, plus, in addition to", five. But it has been seen
that the ending -ahbai has a like signification. The only reasonable explanation of
this anomaly is that like the Tonto (2) g-eahbe, it owes its origin to the term repre-
sented by the Kiliwi meaig; and, moreover, it seems to be a dialectic loan-word. If
the term geahbe (2)^ was adopted as meaning eix, supplanting, it may be, an earlier
form like hanihoke, the force of analogy, to assimilate this to the other forms, na&ely,
of "seven", "eight", and "nine", would affix the regular dialectic prefix iiiii- (or
nio-). These explanations and analyses of the diverse forms of the numeral "six"
reveal no relationship between the Serian and the Yuman groups.

Serian

A. kahkwuu

B. kachqhue
(2Jkaxk;i;ue

.Itomkaxkue
D. tomkujkcni

Yuman

22. hawake-zpi'i

18. hewake-sp6
10. hofige-shbe-k

2. hoage-shbe

19. huiiki5-shpo
j^ Jhwag-sp6

Ihwagft-spF

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY 313*

1. waka-spe

23. hooak-eleepai

8. maik-kewikenaicli
14. ]iio-khoak

20. paajkgk
13. pahkae
17. pahkai

5. pa;tkyfek

21. pakai

24. pakai

3. pakha
16. parkai

4. patchkieque
12. pathcay6

I. c]iaquera-T,ampai
7. bee-eeka

9. vika

6. viiga

It is evident that the forms of the Serian digit " seven" are variants from a com-
mon source, and it is equally apparent that the numeral "two" is the basis for the
terra. The several examples of this numeral are ghd'kum, kahom, Icax'kum, kookx', in
which the final -um or -om appears to be a suffix ; in\he term for " twenty " Professor
McGee writes iintfko'k, in which the final -ko'k is the term denoting "two", and in
which the final -um or -om is wanting, which probably indicates that it is a flex-
ion. Now, it is seen that this numeral "seven" terminates in the syllable -wM,
-ue, and -ui, in direct contrast with the termination of the digit "two"- The mate-
rial at hand is too limited to determine whether this final syllable should be -«;««,
-ue, -ui, or -kwuu, -kue, -kui. It apparently signifies "added, over, plus", or some
equivalent term. To attain economy of utterance the term denoting "five" was
omitted from the original statement, "two added to five", as the expression of the
number seven, and so " two added" became the name of the number "seven". An
initial torn, turn, tun, or ditin occurs in the names for 7, 17, 70, and 700. An evident
derivative from the name for " hand", it denotes " five". It is a cognate of Unt in
ksokhunt, "nine", literally "four-five'', and also with tanoltl in Mr Bartlett's num-
bers 12-19; the correct form for "seven", it would seem, should have been tan'l
kaxkue, etc, "five-two-added-on"; its initial t is identical with the t in i-aul {t-anl ?),
"ten" The difference in the endings of this prefix — the difference between an m
and im n — may easily be explained. In the several vocabularies it is seen that one
Collector fancied he heard an m sound, while another, equally careful, heard an n
sound. The fact appears to be that it is an obscure nasal sound, which may readily
be taken either for an m sound or an n sound by the heteroglot. In Bartlett's list of
numerals ian-taad-que signifies "eleven", wherein tas6- is the numeral "one", as
given by both M Pinart and Sr Teuoohio, tan- the prefix under discussion, and -que the
sufSx mentioned above, which was regarded as signifying " added, more, plus".

The first eight terms of the Yuman list are clearly modified forms of a single orig-
inal combination, which is apparently still retained nearly unchanged in the Yava-
pai (18) of Corbusier, hSwakS-sp6. The signification and function of the final -sp4
have been discussed in the remarks on the probable derivations and meanings of the
Yuman names for "six". The given conceptual element is evidently the term hewahS-,
"two". And -sp^, as has been ascertained, signifying "added, more, plus", etc,
the expression literally means "two added", i. e., to five, which is here understood,
but unnecessary, since "two added "has acquired 'the meaning "seven", originally
expressed by the entire proposition. The Kiliwee (23) term hooak-eleepai, "seven",
has literally the same meaning as the terms last under discussion. It will be seen
that the conceptual element is the term hooak, "two", which is only another form

314*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

of hewaM, treated above. Now, it is mathematically certain that if "two" be an
element of the concept "seven", it must be added to some preceding number that
will produce the result sought, and this number is of course five. So it is presump-
tively certain that the element -eleepai must mean "added, laid onto, superadded,
subjoined". The Hummookhave (8) maik-Tcewilc-enaieh is composed of the conceptual
element kewilc, "two", the prefix maik- meaning "more, over", and the suffix -enaioh
(or -Tcenaich), which seems to be an ordinal or distributive flexion. So that "two
over, added", is here likewise the expression for the numeral "seven". The next
form, the Diegueuo (14) of Dr Loew is another example of the use of the numeral
"two" with different flexions, to express the number "seven". An examination
of this Diegueno list of numerals shows that in such a form as nio-hhoak, "seven",
the initial nio- is a prefix signifying "added, in addition to", etc, while the khoak is
a, form of the numeral "two". The next ten forms, while apparently derivative
from a common source, are difficult of explanation £pom the material at hand. The
same may be said of the last four, three of which are evidently cognate and are very
probably shortened forms of the original represented by the first group in the list.
Take, for example, a form like (22) hawake-spi, and drop the final -sp^, as is done in
some of the terms in the "eight" list, and also the initial ha-, and the result is a
form wake, which in the dialects (6) and (9) would become viiga, vika, which is the form
of the digit "two" in these dialects. The form (7) iee-eeka is also merely the digit
"two" of this dialect without any index to show that it is not "two" rather than
"seven". The same thing is to be noticed in the Serian lists, in which the form for
thirteen is in all respects the same as that for the numeral "eighteen", both appar-
ently meaning merely "three added".

Serian

A. pdhkwuu

B. phraque

„ Jksho^olka

■lp';fak;);ue
D. osrojoskum (os;i;'oj;oskum ?)

Ynman

hamiak-eleepai
hamuge-shbe-t
hamuke-zp6
hemuke-sp^

23.
10,
22,
18,
11,

1. humuga-spe

2. moge-shbe

19. miikS-shpe
9. m6ka

7. ihoo-ooka
6. muugd

16. chip-hoke

12. chip-h6ok
21. hipp-6ka

3. sep-hoke

13. seepa-hook

4. sepp-6que

5. sep-;i;uk
15. 8epp-6ok

17. shepa-hook

20. slip-ji5o (j=;t;)

25. tc6p-hok

26. toCp-hok

8. maike-horaok-enaioh

14. nio-khamuk

24. pakai-hin-awach
I. nyakivamivapai

"°''™1 COMPAEATIVE LEXICOLOGY 315*

The Serlan numeral "eight" is expressed by two different terms. The first is
based on the numeral three, and the second on the digit four. The former is the
remaining factor of an original expression which signified by uttered elements
"three added to five (=the full hand) ", but the need for economy of expression led
to the suppression of the uttered element denoting "five", as soon as the shorter
"three added" acquired the usual signification of "eight". The basis of the digit
is kS'pka or hapx'a, "three", with the suffix -kwrm {-kxue, -que), presumably denoting
"added, plus". This represents theusualmethodof forming this digit. Thesecond
term, kshoxolka, is that which is presumably based on the numeral "four". This
is the form given by M Pinart. But Sr Pimeutel, citing Sr Tenochio, writes
this oarojoskum, which at first sight appears to be quite different from the other;
yet the r of the latter evidently stands for a modified x and the j for a Xj ^nd
making these substitutions the term becomes osx' oxoskum, which is approximately
.the form in which Professor McGee and Mr Bartlett wrote this digit in the numeral
"eighty". Now, it is self-evident that if the element "four" constitute a factor in
the combination denoting "eight", it must be added to itself by addition or multi-
plication, and the result will be the same in either event. The final -ollca appears
also as -otkum, -olchkom, and -oskum in these Serian vocabularies, either in the
numeral "four" or its multiples. The origin and signification of this ending are
not clear; but taking into consideration the great variations in the spelling of its
recorded forms, especially in so far as the consonant sound preceding the fe-sound is
concerned, it may not be presumptive to adopt the s-sound (though ax' may be
more correct) as that which represents approximately at least the true soundj for it
varies from I, t, loh, to «. And it has been seen that the final -um is a flexion denotive
of serial or consecutive counting and so not a part of the stem. Then it is seen that
-s-fe- (the last two hyphens representing uncertain vowels) ie the termination requir-
ing explanation. Now, it is probable that this termination is identical in meaning
and origin with the -suk, -shoXt ■*'"', -sclioch, and -shroj {= -shx'ox) terminating the
forms of the digit "six". If this identification be correct (and there is no present
reason to doubt it), it signifies "repeated, again, duplicated", as was suspected
and stated in the discussion of the forms of the numeral "six". So granting this
derivation to be correct, kshoxolka, then, signifies " four repeated ", which of course
denotes "eight".

In the Yuman list, the first eleven forms are evidently composed of the numeral
"three" and a suffix signifying "added, plus, more than", but the last three of the
group want this suffix, a fact due perhaps to the fault of the collector rather than
to linguistic development. The terminations -eleepai and -shbe-k and its variants
have already been explained when treating of the numeral " seven ". And the twelve
forms beginning with e7iip-feoi;e (16) are variants from a common original composed
of the numerals "two" and "four". It will be readily seen that chip- in such a form
as chip-hoke is a contraction of a form such as tcMbabk (14), "four", chepap (24),
"four", as may be seen in the Yuman list of terms for the digit "four". Now, the
next portion of the term is -hoke, which is but a slightly disguised numeral "two",
as maybe seen by reference to the schedules of the numeral "two". Compare hooak
(23), hudka (19), uake (2), and hSwdki (18), all signifying " two". Now, the next term,
maike-homok-enaich (8), is a combination of maike, "above, over, more than", homok,
"three", and the ending -enaich (or -kenaich), which may be either an ordinal or a
distributive flexion. The form nio-khamuk (14) is a combination of the prefix nio-,
signifying "added, above, or more than", and the conceptual ieimlchamnk, "three",
the expression signifying "three over, or added to". The next two examples are
evidently irregular, if not spurious. The form pakaikhin-awach is composed of pakai,
"seven", khin-, "one", and the suffix -awach, "added to"- Now, the last, the
Cochimi nyaki-vamivapai, appears to be erroneous. It contains the term nyaki for
ginyaki, "hand", but the remainder of the expression is composed of elements that
are not comparable to anything in the meager material at present accessible. The
Serian and the Yuman terms herein show no relationship.

316*

THE SERI INDIANS

[BTH. ANN. 17

Serian

A. ks(5khuiit, ks6kh-uni

B. sohdntl, 8oh-dntl
I rso;[anthe, sox-anthe~

Iksovikanl;);'
D. kaobbejoaul {3=x)

r-uman

9(1.

hailyuthu

balathuya

11.

halathuya

10.

halathiiig

22.

halesfiwi

19.

halgsflyi

haleeye

18.

hiliethuyi

hamhinmoke

13.

hoomlioomook

17.

lioomhooniook

15.

humhummfiok

liumhumm6que

12.

humham6ok

21.

hilmbummrika

20.

jumjamuc (;);um;i;amlik?)

;(eiii;(einlik

muke

16.

n'yimbummoke

nimhfimmok

m'sigk-tkmat

uitobibab, (iii(o)tcbibab)

paaya

paeeya

pSia

quaobera-vampai

Tbe first three Serian terms for "nine" are evidently forms of a common original,
signifying "four added to five". It is evident that kso'kh- in (A) Tcao'kJi-unt is tbe
same element as -kso'Tc An niiftkso'k-, "forty", and -kaoho'lc in unz-unUfkiikscIWk,
"400". Tbe element -iini here is a name for "five". Its literal meaning is "hand",
which may be gathered from tbe following citations: MMo!;'J;="hand"; mi'noul't=:
"arm"; ««tt?ie-mM'i;o'j>="middlbtinger", in which wjixJie means "finger (or band)".
These are from tbe vocabulary^ of Professor McGee. Then M Pinart records innolx',
"arm ", iniiaah "hand", inol'tis, "finger, indexfinger", inol'tip "ring finger". And
Mi Bartlett writes inoyl, "arm'', inossiakersk, "band", inosahack, "fingers". This
-■iint will be further treated when the numeral "ten" is under discussion.

While it is evident that tbe first eiglit forms of the Yuman list are but variants
from a common original, it is not, however, so clear what the original signification
of the combination was. But as there can not be any question of relationsliip
between these and tbe Serian terms, this fact will not aft'ect the result of this
study. The next terms of the Yuman list are variants of an entirely dilferent
combination of elements. The forms (15) Tiumlium-mdck and (12) liumhamdok may be
taken as characteristic of these terms. Now, it is plain that there is here duplica-
tion of the stem hum- or ftam-, "three", making tbe literal sense of tbe combination
to be "three threes", which of course gave the required meaning. The Cochimi
(23) m'sigk-tkmat contains tbe element m'sig, " one ", and the final tkmat, wbich appears
to mean "Jacking, wanting, or less". And in the DiegueSo (14) nitchibab for niotchi-
lab a still different method of expressing "nine" is found. In discussing the num-
eral "seven" and "eight" the signification of tbe initial nio- was ascertained to be
"added to, over, plus", and tchibah is of course tbe numeral "four". The original
expression, then, was "four added to five", producing the required number, "nine".
The next three forms, though evidently cognate, are, like the first group, not analy za-

MCQEE]

COMPAEATIVE LEXICOLOGY

317*

ble from the data to be obtained from the meager material at present accessible.
The last form la doubtful. These analyses show no relationship between the Serian
and the Ynman terms.

Serian

A. kh6hnfit', khoh-niU'

B. honaohtl, ho-nachtl
(Xonalx', xo-nalx'

'Ikanl^', ka-nlx'
D. taul (tanl?)

Ynman

araabii

arh^p

arrapa

raphawaioh

buw^wi

huwava

19.

uilbi

nave

nwawa
.(h)w^wa

10.

/varuk
Ivuifruk

22.

wilwe

sahhoke

12.

sahdohk

21.

sah6ka

13.

sauhook

15.

shah6ck

20.

shahahjtjc (j=x)

shah6que

sha;i;uk

16.

sharhoke

17.

shauhook

14.

selgh-iamSt

23.

chepam-mesig

[II.

nagannaignimbal demuejueg

das las mano.s"

iiyavani-chaqui

'to-

The Serian forms of the numeral "ten" are apparently cognate, being composed,
it would seem, of the same elements. Thus they are mere variants of a common
original expression, signifying, literally, "two fives", or what originally was the
same thing, "two hands".

The element IcMli- in (A) Tchdhnilf represents ghd'Tc (kha'k) or ko'k, as it is also writ-
ten, signifying "two", and -nut' is the slightly disguised name for "hand" and
"finger", being also transcribed as -nachtl, -nalx', -nlXt ^Jid lastly -auZ. Compare
these carefully with the words denoting "arm, hand, finger", in this language, and
it will be seen that the spelling of khdh- varies in the several vocabularies from khdh-,
ho-, X0-, to ka-, respectively. The derivation of the t, or rather ta, in taul of Sr
Tenochio, is not evident, but seems to be cognate with the prefix torn-, turn-, tun-, or
diiin-, already noticed, making taul thus signify "five added",!, e., to five, and so
producing "ten units"- Sucli seems to be the evident resolution of the Serian names
for the numeral "ten "- But taul may have been miswritten for ta-an'l.

The first four terms of the Yumau list are plainly based on the numeral "five",
expressed by sarap. The form raphawaich (8) is evidently a shortened form of sarap-
ftoiowaioA, literally "two fives", or, what was the same thing at the beginning, "two
hands" The first term, sarap, signifies " five, finger", denotively, but its literal or
connotive signification is "entire, whole, full, complete, collectively", a meaning
which was suggested in the discussion of the numeral " five". And koivwaich is the
form of the digit "two" in this dialect.

318* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.ann.17

The next nine forms are so oontracterl, irregular, and, perhaps, miswritteil that an
analysis of them is a matter of doubt and difficulty, but the following ten terms are
cognate and signify "two fives (hands) ", or, denotively, "ten "- In the oomparative
list of names for the " arm, hand, finger", etc., shah, shaioas, ahawarra, and eesarlya
are a few of the many variants of sal, " arm, hand, finger", etc. So, in such a form
as sahhoke (3j the sah is the name for "hand" and holce is the numeral "two", the
combination signifying "two fives, hands", or "ten ". The other nine terms are but
variants of the original of this compound. In selgh-iamdt (14), selgh for isalgh is the
element denoting "hand", or "five", while iamat means "added to, upon, over",
there being the subaudition of the element denoting "five"- Hence the original
combination meant "five added to five", or "ten". This is a strict application of
the quinary system.

The Kiliwee term ohepam-meaig (23) signifies literally "one cftepom". If refer-
ence be made to the " five " list, it will be seen that there sol-chepam signifies " five",
or, to be exact, is the translation of the term " five". Now, the element sol- of this
compound is a variant of esal, "hand", while chepam, judging from analogy, must
signify " the whole, entire, the complete", collectively " all". Moreover, the Kiliwee
terms for " fingers (dedos)" and "toes (dedos del pi6)" are sdlchepa and emeohepah,
respectively, wherein the element chepah is added to esal, " ha.nd", and to erne, "leg".
Hence it may be inferred that chepam-mesig signifies " one complete' count of all the
fingers", and so "ten". The next is Cochimi, in which naganna means "hand",
and the last term (I) appears to be miswritten. It will be seen from these partial
analyses of the names for the digit "ten" that there is no linguistic relationship
between the Serian and the Yumau terms.

Tuman

A. 6. as(5entik-nitauk

B. tau-tasd-que 8. sienti

C. 1. sita-giala

D. 10. siti-gi^laga

18. siti-kwaa'hli
11. sitta-gSlla

3. sahhoke-shitti

4. Bhah6que-maga-shentiok

20. shahajdc umaig ash^nd
2. uave-shiti

19. u^veBhfti

5. maik-shendik

13. mae-sint

21. emmid;-shiti-ki
23. mesigk-malha

14. nie-khin

The only Seri example of the numeral "eleven" is that which was recorded by
Mr Bartlett, who writes it tan-ia-s6-qiie, instead of tan-tas6-que, which exhibits the
component elements of this compound. This expression signifies " one added to, or,
over, upon". Its conceptual base is the numeral toad, "one". The initial tan- has
already been discussed while treating of the numeral "seven ". It was there made
a cognate of the initial torn- or turn- of the several examples of that digit, and likewise
of tanehl in Mr Bartlett's numbers 13-19. It would seem that the correct form for
"eleven" should be tanchl-tas6c^v,e,i. e., " ten-one-added-on ". Where "hand" is the
name for "five" and is an element in the name for "ten" there arises confusion,
unless there is marked difference between the two expressions.

MCQEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

319*

In the Yuman list the first fourteen examples of the numeral "eleven" have some
form of the digit aahntilc {sita, aiti, simi, sftiii), "one", as the dominant element in the
expression, while the elements denoting "added to, more than, plus", are severally
as follows : in the first -nitauk, in four others a variant of -giala, in five others the
prefix maga- (^umaiga, emmid, mae) ; while in some such a flexion is entirely wanting,
probably, at least in a» majority of the forms, because of misapprehension on the part
of the several collectors rather than the abrasion of use. But in mesigh-mahla (23)
mesigk denotes "one", and malha "plus, added to". In the form nie-khin (14), khin
signifies "one", and the prefix nie-, "plus, added". It will be noticed that the
flexion maga {umaiga, mae, emmid) is a prefix to the element " one ", and so when
shahoque, "ten", is expressed as in (4) it stands between the two notional terms.
But in (8) neither "ten" nor an element denotive of addition is expressed.

B. tanchltoque, tan-chlt-oque

Serian Yuman

6. havik-nitauk
11. hawa-gflla

18. hSwakg-kwa'hli
10. hovak-tiiilik
23. hooak-malha

1. huwaga-giala
21. emmi^-hawiika

13. mae-hewik
5. maik-;fawlk

19. n^ho£iki

2. uave-uake

14. nie-khvabgushbaib

20. shahahjdc umai-javic(j=;i;)
4. shah6que maga habick
8. vaike.

The only known example of the Seri numeral " twelve " is that which was recorded
by Mr Bartlett. He has apparently misapprehended its true pronunciation, for he
wrote tanchl-to-que instead of tancliltakahque or iandhltakochque. In his orthography
kahom signifies "two", but the final -om is employed only in serial counting, so thai
kah- is the stem, which is only a variant of kooh in eanal-koch, "twenty"; and taneht
signifies "ten".

In the first six examples of the Yuman list the element "ten" is not expressed,
but duly some form of the numeral "two", with a suffix denoting "added to,
over, more than " ; in the next three the flexion of addition is prefixed to the element
"two"; and in the next two, (19) and (2) respectively, the element "two" is imme-
diately preceded by the very abbreviated and perhaps misapprehended forms of the
numeral "ten"; in the next a very questionable form is recorded, for it appears to
be au attempt to form a compound signifying "two times six", but without accom-
plishing the purpose; yet it may be miswritten for nio-khoak-ialibe, in which klioak
is the element "two", with a doubled sign of addition, namely, the prefix nio-,
already explained, and the sufSx -Sahie, also explained above. In the next two the
element denoting "ten" is expressed, with umai-javt'c and maga kabich as the second
part, both meaning "two added". The last (8) vaike is a highly modified and prob-
ably misapprehended form of an earlier havik-£sl>e, "two added", with a sub-
audition of the numeral "ten".

320*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

Serian

A. untQ-ko'k

B. eansl-koeh

C. kanl^' kookj;'

D. taul jaukl

Fuman

6. ar^bavik-takavuta-havik

9. arh^p-havik takadutca havfk

23. chepam-hooak

22. guw£ike wSwi

18. hgwakS buw^wi

19. hu^ka huSvi

1. huwaka huwava

III. nagauna aganuapa inimbal deiiiue-
jueg^"la8 manos y los pi^s "

3. sahhoke was poppe

8. sahoaich sahocki hawaich

13. sauhook ahoowik

14. selgh-hoSg

4. shahdque ahabick

20. 8liahahj6o ahah javio Q^x)
0. shajiilia jawik

2. uake-uave

10. vava-hovak

11. wSba-lioa'g

21. wom&a-howfik

The four examples of the Serian numeral "twenty " are merely combinations of the
terms ko'k, koch, Tcookx' &n& jaiikl (for ^aiti;!), all cognate forms, meaning "two",
and the forms iintf, eansl, kanlx', and taul, all cognate and signifying "ten"

The Yuman expressions denoting "twenty" are all, with two exceptions, combi-
nations the dialectic elements denotive of "ten" and the forms of the numeral
"two", which have been treated elsewhere in their proper places. The two excep-
tions are (III) the Cochimi, which signifies "all the fingers and toes", and (21) the
Santa Catalina, which here presents what appears to be a new term for "ten", for
the final word kowuk is the numeral "two". These analyses do not show rela-
tionship between the Serian and the Yuman terms.

Seria n

A. untf-kopka

B. eans'l-kapka
C.

Yuman

6. arabavik-takavut8-ham6k
9. arhap-havik-takadiitca hamok
23. chepam hoomiak

18. hSmukS buw^wi

1. humuku huwava
11. hw^wa hamok

8. sahoke-hamuok

13. sauhook-ahoomook

20. shahahjdc ahah jamuc (j=;f)

4. 3hah6que aham6ck

5. shahuha ;i;amiik

14. selgh-hamuk

19. muku-iivi

2. moke-uave
10. vava-hamok

21. womds hamu'k

MC OEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

321*

Serian

A. tSutf-kso'k

B. eans'l-sooch
C.

Yuman

9. arhap-havik takadiitca tcimpap
23. chepam misnok
2. hoba-uave.

18. hopaohS Tjuw^wi

19. hopadsh-u^vi
1. hopatia ■wslva

11. hw^wa hoop^

13. aauhook wauchoopap gishbab

20. shabahj6c abab tsenmp^p
5. 8ha;i;flka sump^p

10. vava-bopa

21. womaB abop^

A. untp'^kditum

B. eanBl-kovat'bom
C.
D.

Serian Tuman

9. arhap-bavik takadiitca gaibabk
14. aselgbakai

18. h6rap6 buwSwi
11. bwSwa ft^pa (Gilbert)
23. mesig quinquedit sol-chepam
13. saubook wa sarap

19. seriip u^vi

20. shahabj6c ahab saar^p

1. tbgrapa wuw^va
10. vava hatSbulE

21. womas aserapa

2. satabe-uave.

Comparative Lists of Serian and Yuman Conceptual Terms

SERIAN

Man

Woman

People, Indians

A. ku'tiimm

A. km^mm

A. ku-'-kiik

B. ^ketam

B. ^kemam

B. komkak

C. ktam

C. kmam

C. komkak

jj ftam (ktam)
' Itamuk; ktamuk (pi.)

J. /kmam
' Lkamujik,kamykij (pi. )

YUMAN

III. tama

19. ep^ve^i

II. demausu = " Indian "

rtam^, tamm^, tamm^

3. nislike

24. ep^i

IV.I ="bomo"

16. necbuck

26. ipai = " Indian "

Uami="man, male"

17. gechak

15. ipaye

II. delm^

g fsenyedik
Isenyeiiks

11. up^b, «p-a'

I. wauyu-ami = "young

J fmaba = " people"
'Imabati = "Indian"

man"

12. seenyaok

3. apab

8. siniake

23. mebale

190. ep^

20. sinaacca

17. m'tee-pai

4. ep^-ohe (pi.)

4. BJn'ya&e-obe (pi.)

12. ml-€p5ie

13. epa

7. thinyeabka

7. peepa

jg/ep^
, lepiitob (pi.)

gffinyiak
"Icinyi&tc (pi.)

13. peepa-chamal

8. pipachi-taik ="many

17 ETH-

-21

322*

THE SERI INDIANS
YUMAN — continued

[BTH. ANN. 17

Man

Woman

People, Indians

17. epa

24. sinquahin

pipatc (pi. of man)

8. ipa

24a. Bssin

20.

piipatse-pallensim

2 fipa
■lipagrili="In(]

jg/stin
Isyn

16.

tepitetohetleo wah

Lian"

Jmatsh-tsh Smak

g fipiis (B doubtful)

27. sin

lmatsh-tsb£imk

'tip^tsh (pi.)

26. sin

24a.

ipai = "Indian"

196. pd, p^'h

14. sing

10. pa

6. hanya-aga

13. suyaka

ISA pa-hgml =

"large

10. pogii

. man "

^^ fpiikl (Gilbert)
Ipftkelii

21. pa hfirml ==

"large

man"

18. puki

22. pa-bami =

"large

22. peke

man"

1. k-wei inlniga =

7. peepa, pd-paa

" squaw, Tvife "

g fpipa
Ipipato (pi.)

'2. make, ouidima= "In-

dian woman"

11. upa' (Gilbert)

21. mebisi

15. eoouch

23. kokoa

16. eootobe

I. vr&hki

14. igutoh

fwakoe (Laymou)

24a. ikute

wuotu, wnetu (Lay-
mon)

2(5 fikultcli
' likwits

huagin = " luulier"

27. ikwitc

II. hulsin

20. curacca

23. kimai

24. equitohquahfn

Those philologists who have Classed the Seri tongue as a dialect of the Yuman
stock have laid great stress on the alluring phonetic accordance, supposedly indic-
ative of genetic relationship, between the Laymon (and probably Cochimi) tamd or
iammd, " man (homo) ", and the Serian hiVtumm, ktam or elcetam, possibly of the same
signification — i. e., " man (homo) ", rather than " man (vir) " ; but the accompanying
comparative list of vocables i^urporting to denote "man (homo) " discloses the
significant fact that tamd {iammd) belongs only to the Laymon, and (probably) the
Cochimi dialects. In Mr Bartlett's Cochimi record, he wrote delmd, "man,
hombre'', and jitami (Spanish s), "husband" — that is, "male person". From cer-
tain Laymon texts with interlinear translations in Buschmann's "Die Spuren der
aztekischen Sprache", etc., the following forms of the vocables in question have been
extracted: tammd, "man (homo, Mensch)"; tamma-btitel, "this man"; uami-iuiel,
"this man, this male person"; ivami-jna, "man (vir, Mann), male person"; tiiakoe-
iutel, "this woman"; gui-wuetu-jua, "his woman"; whanu, "small, young, a
child"; tvhanu-wami-jua, "asmall, or young, male person", perhaps "a boy". Now,
wanju or wanyu, "yoijng", mdhki, "woman" (-ofei in toanju-aki, "girl" — i. e.,
"young woman"); ouomi," (my) husband", correctly, "(my) male person"; ouiqua,
"(my) wife", evidently a form of wdltki, "woman", are all Cochimi vocables. Dr
Gabb, in his Cochimi vocabulary, did not record the presumptively correct term
denoting " man " ; for the word which he has written, wanyuami, and which he has
translated "man", really signifies, "young male person", rather than "man
(homo) ". This is unfortunate, because in Mr Bartlett's Cochimi, delmd is rendered

"^'■'='^1 COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY 323*

"man (homo)", and the Cochimi of Padre Clavigero has tamd, "man", and the Lay-
men, tamd, tammd, or tammd, "man", and there is seemingly no absolutely satisfac-
tory method of ascertaining whether the I of Mr Bartlett's delmd, " man", is genetic
or not. But as the Laymon and the Cochimi are apparently cognate dialects, it is
probable that the form delmd of Bartlett's Cochimi and the tamd or tammd of the
Laymon and the Cochimi of Padre Clavigero are cognate vocables. The part of the
terms which the two dialects have in common is the final and usually accented -md;
in other words, -md is the common conceptual element in the vocables delmd and
tamd. This of course rests on the presumption that tamd and delmd are compound
terms, having probably genetic relationship. The following facts may aid in dis-
covering the lexica constituting the elements of the two words in question, and
these, it is seen, are -md, del-, and ta-. In Dr W. M. Gabb's record of Cochimi words,
collected by him in the vicinity of San Borja and Santa Gertrudis about the "center
of the peninsula" of Lower California, the term "Indian" is represented by maha-ti,
and "people" by maha. Ou the same schedule with the Cochimi Dr Gabb recorded
a vocabulary of the Kiliwee, dwelling 150 miles "further north "at and near San
Quentin. In this diialect, which is Yuman, the word " Indian" is rendered by kimai,
and "people" by meha-le (preferably mexaW^). The apparently genetic accord-
ance between the Kiliwee word for "people" and the Cochimi terms donating
"Indian" and "people" is brought into stronger light by a comparison of the terms
for " warrior" ; in the Cochimi, mach-karai (imax'-lcarai), in the Kiliwee, mahk-pMtai
(maxk-pkdtai). The unqnestioned kinship between these two dialects warrants the
inference that these two compound expressions, deuotive of the same thing and
possessing at least one common element, max- or ™<^X'-> must accord approximately
at least,' in the signification of their heteromorphic constituents.

In the Kiliwee pah-kuie signifies "a chief", from e-pa, "Indian", hence "man"
(primitively) and kute for (,k)e-iai, "large, great", hence "old", found in such
expressions as sal-kootai, "thumb", literally "large finger", a,ui pah-tai, "old", but
literally "old man". So the name for a chief may be rendered freely "the elder
person; the old man (the wise man)". The Cochimi term mach-ka-4, as written by
Dr Gabb, denotes "far", while mach-i-kang-i-nga means "near". These vocables
may preferably be written thus, max'-kaS and max' -kan-ina. The ending -ina is a
privative flexion or suffix in Cochimi, forming derivatives with meanings directly
adverse to those of the primals; so the literal signification oi max' -kan-ina is "not
far", hence "near"; but in max'-kaS the final -ka6 is the adjective "large, great",
having here an intensive function signifyiug approximately "more", while ma^'- is
evidently a form of the proximate pronominative found in the terms "thou" and
"ye" in this group of languages. In the Laymon kahal ka, "water large (is)", for a
"sea or stream of water", ka signifies "large, great"; and the Cochimi kattengi,
"few, not much", is literally kdtte- for (k)etai, "large, great, mucli, many", and -ini
the privative denoting "not". And the Laymon meteS, " many, much", is evidently
from m- for ma (a proximate pronominative), eta for the Cochimi etai, "large, great,
much, many", and the final -». Compare Bartlett's mo^, "all, todos", and modol-
ini, " many, much ". Such are some of the forms of the adjective signifying " great,
large, much, many". There is also in the Cochimi an intensive pa, ibal, ibd, which
signifies "very''. This explains the presence of the p- somd in the term maxk-p-
kdtai, the Kiliwee for " warrior "-

It has thus been shown that a probable connection exists between the Cochimi
terms maha, "people", and mahu-ti, "Indian'', 'on the one hand, and the max-, infer-
entially signifying "man" in the Cochimi and Kiliwee names for " warrior", max'-

iTn Dr Gabb's alphabet, an underscored ch occurs, which, he states, sounds "lite soft German
'ch' as in 'ich'", and also an underscored A, which is, he says, "heavily aspirated". For conveni-
ence the character x ^^^ been substituted for both these sounds, except that for the former it is
accented thus x'-

324* THE SEEI INDIANS [eth.akn.17

Icarai and maxk-pT'dtai, and the mexa- in the Kiliwee mexa-le, "people", on the other.
The signifioauce of the initial ta- in tdmmd {tamd, tammd, tamal, tamtuald) seems to
he that of a definitive pronominative ; it is found in the Coohimi of Dr Gahh and in
the Laymon. Dr Gatah recorded in his vocabulary ta-ip, "good", but ta-ip-enu,
"bad", the final -ena being the characteristic Coohimi privative suffix elsewhere
written -ini. So it would seem that the stem is -ip, meaning " good, desirable "- In
Kiliwee axolc (Dr Gabb's ahok) signifies "flesh, meat", while axok-m-gai denotes
"deer", literally "good, desirable meat ", in which m-jrai signifies "good, desira-
ble"; it is probably connected with the term ka, "great", and its variants noted
above, and so inay also denote "abundance". Under the word "love" Dr Gabb
has m'jai-yijj, the free translation of which should read " greatly desirable ; abun-
dantly good, well" Thus -ip, or -yip, signifies "desirable, good, pleasing to the
sense"; in Laymon likewise the initial -ta is sometimes wanting, as in wayp-mang,
"good (is) ", as distinguished from tahipo-mang, "good (is) ". The final -mawjr (= man)
is a term apparently denoting "to exist, to live", and is possibly cognate with the
md (Kiliwee me) in the words discussed above.

This, it would appear, is the origin of the md in tamd, "man" T^a individual
character of the initial ta is suggested in what has already been said in reference to
its absence from such vocables as loayp-mang and m'gai-yip, in which the wayp and
the yip are identical with the ip in ta-ip, " good ". This term ta appears as the rela-
tive "that" under the form te. It also appears as a prefix in the Cochimi and Lay-
mon numeral "one" and in the adjective te-junoey, "a few"; also in the adjective
de-muejweg, "all" : and again in the peculiar numeral " one", namely du-juenidi.

Such appears to be the analysis of the Cochimi and Laymon tamd, " man ". The
form of it recorded by Mr Bartlett, del-md, " man "y» compared with his de-ma-nsH,
"Indian", is seemingly a valid confirmation of the foregoing derivation, because
this I in de-l-md is probably identical with the final I or Id in tama-l and tamma-ld,
"man", cited above. In the Cochimi for "water", ca-l, its true character is partly
seen; cal oao signifies "river", but iTi.caa-pa-1 (Gabb's kax-pa-ra), "sea", it becomes
a sufflx, the element ^a signifying "much, great", and Dr Gabb's form shows that
in the dialect he recorded its form is ra; again in oal Tea, "lake", literally "large
water", it is a suffix. It appears again in Mr Bartlett's del-mag, "light", as com-
pared with Dr Gabb's ma-ah/ra {=madh-ra), "fire"; it appears evident that the
mag of del-mag and the madh of maah-ra are cognate, so that de-l is here found as a
prefix, as it is in Mr Bartlett's de-l-md, "man". Thus it is that delmd and dema-nau,
"Indian", of Mr Bartlett and tamd and ta/mmald of Hervas, Duflot de Mofras, and
Miguel del Barco are cognate.

It accordingly appears that the assumed linguistic relationship between the forms
discussed above and the Serian ku'tiimm {ktam,tam), "man", is very improbable,
because there are no evidences nor data indicative that the Serian forms have had a
common linguistic tradition with the Cochimi and Kiliwee forms discussed above.
It seems proper, therefore, to reject such assumed relationship between the Yuman
and the Serian vocables in this comparison.

The comparative list of names purporting to signify "woman" in both the Serian
and the Yuman tongues reveals not a single phonetic or lexic accordance that may
even suggest linguistic kinship between the two groups of vocables.

The comparative list of terms purporting to signify "people" and "Indian" in
the Serian and Yuman groups of languages exhibits, in a manner similar to those
already examined, the same decisive lack of phonetic accordance between the voca-
bles compared.

SERIAN

Head

A. a"leht

B. ih'lit

C. ill'it
D.

Hair

(.ai'leht)

ina = "feather" (?)

ill'it kopt'no

obeka^"down"

Nose

tluf

ife

hif

MCOEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

325*

YUMAN

Head

Bair

JVbse

2. ho (aud "face")

1. kaw^wa

3. aho

17. ho

11. cowawii

16. ho, chinattuksah

11. hoc

18. kuw^'wa

15. h'ho

^^•{hu

21. kawava

13. ho

2 fkovaiiva
Igovava (Loew)

17. ho

1. huu

21. h(5

10. huu
4. ohukschassese

19. kw^wa
22. kwawe

20. ij<5 (}=x)
4. ho(5-che (pi. ?)

8. iohucksa

10. koau

7. mee-hoo,^"thy nose"

7. chookk'sa

7. mfikora (Gibbs)

^2 fee-hoo

leho-tohe (pi.)

13. chookoosii

9. mokdra

6. tohuksa

6. mogora

2. hu

9. tciiksa

8. amaoora

18. hu

20. edzukshii

7. mem-mukkorra

19. hii

12a. eoou-tsucher<5wo

(Mowry)

22. hu

14. iltii

126. ocono

6. ihu

fitchhama

4. e^che

8. ihu

3.<mooorre (Peabody; =

12a. eStohe (pi. ?)

gfhihd

Lhihuv-toa (pi.)

"hair"?)

20. ee

121). oom-whelthe

5. efes

14. khu

24. huch'lta

23. neesmok

5. i;fu-tS8h (pi.)

15. hulchtekamo

16. teuahcumoh

o famawhach
Imowh'l

23. epe

24. hon'yap^

11. yaya (Gilbert)

yaiiva (Eenshawe)
10. yaiya

18. kflmpaiya kftwsVwa
21. kapai
5. kwisSsh

15. hulchsta
24. huoh'lmo
17. h'lemo

23. ne-ee

14i. khalta

1. ySyo

I. epok

16. hetltar (r silent)

I. vichpyuk

II. gupir

13. m'aeae

II. huichil

III. agoppi

I. epok

25. ah'u (=a;i:u)

25. h ii s t a - k w a r it r, =

II. lagubfi

26. a'hO ; h'o (=a;t:o)

27. eh'u (=e;t:u)

26. h'o(;i;o),="beak,bill"
24a. a-hu='- beak, bill"

"scalp"

26. rnawhl

27. h'l-ta (=A:lta)

25. husta

26. hl-ta

27. h'l-ta (=;i;lta)

24a. ri-hu

24o. h'alta (=;[alta)

This comparison of the Seri and Yuman terms for "head", to ascertain linguistic
relationship, seems barren of any but a negative result. It is true that there is an
apparent resemblance between the Seri and the Diegueuo terms, and a still more
doubtful one between the Seri and the Kutchan. It is significant that the twenty-
odd other Yuman dialects employ for "head" an entirely different term. The kin-
ship of the Seri term to either the Kutchan or the Diegueno is therefore nothing
more than a possibility, and it seems safe to reject it. The phonetic discordances,
and the fact that there has been no evidence adduced to show that the Diegueiio
term was ever prevalent in the other Yuman dialects, warrant this rejection.

The following analysis may be of service here. A careful comparison of the Die-
gueno terms for "head", and "hair" indicates that the form (14) ilta, "head", is
very probably a shortened khalta, "hair". In the Diegueno, Santa Isabella, and
Mesa Grande vocabularies Mr Henshaw recorded several names for "hair" and
"head" which may serve to aid in the explanation of the words in the following
comparative list. In his Dieguefio record lemis and Hmi, variants evidently of a
common original, stand for " hair, feathers, skin, and fish scales ", as in the entries
haltaii lemis, "rabbit skin", kasau lemis, "fish scales", Mhwaip lemis, "deerskin",

326* THE SERI INDIANS [eth.axn.17

ISmis, "feathers" and "hair" of animals; and also yiii-Umis, "eyebrow", literally,
"eye hair", and a-limi, "beard", literally, " mouth hair ", in which yiu for iaw means
"eye" and a for yau, "mouth"- In his Mesa Grande vocabulary, Mr Henshaw
recorded h'lta for both "head" and "hair"; in his Hawi Kancheria vocabulary he
wrote ma-whl for "head", and h'lta for "hair"; and lastly, in his Santa Isabella
record husta means "hair", husta-kwarttr is written for "head" (literally, "hair
sMn ", mean ing "the scalp"); and MSi«-Jr«mo is rendered "skull". Thus, h'lta, lemis,
and hiista are terms denoting "hair, fur, skin, feathers, and fish scales". Yet it is
possible that hiista is a softened and ill-pronounced cognate of h'lta. In Corbnsier's
Yavapai vocabulary "eyebrow" is written yuh-kelenie, and in Dr AVhite's Tonto
word list yH-gtUma, both signifying literally "eye hair". It i's apparently safe,
therefore, to regard the element -helSme or -gulma of these two dialects as cognate
with the l&mis {limi) noticed above. In his Mohave record Mr Corbusier renders
his entry himif (himith) by "hair on an animal". Yet ia this very dialect he writes
hidho-lcoofos himif, "eyebrow", literally, "eye hair"; and in the H'taam or San
TomaseHo by Dr Gabb "beard" is written ah-lamise, literally, "mouth hair".
"Hair" is written lielt'h-yee-moh, seemingly "head hair ", for " forehead " is ren-
dered by het'l-omy, in which helt'h- or hefl- seems to be the term denotive of "head" ;
but in Lieutenant Mowry's Diegueuo this term, which is there written hetltar (for
hetlta) signifies "hair"- In Ten Kate's Maricopa, "beard" is written ya-womis, lit-
erally "mouth hair", -womis being clearly a variant of himif, which is but a variant
of U-mith and of -TcelSme noticed above. In the Santa Isabella, Mr Henshaw wrote
"feathers" li-imth.

COMPARATIVE LIST OF DIEGUESO AND OTHER YUMAN NAMES FOR " HEAD ", "HAIR"

Head Hair

14. ilta khaltS

15. hu-Ichte-kamo hu-lchsta

16. tenah-oumoh hetltar (= hetltfi)

24. hu-ch'lta hu-oh'lmo

24a. ahii (also "beak, bill") h'al-ta (=;ral-ta)

17. ho (= xo) h'lemo (=;(lemo)
27. h'l-ta (= ;i:]-ta) h'l-ta (=A:l-ta)
26. ma-whl hl-ta

h'o (= xo) (also "beak, bill")

25. hustaf husta

It seems clear, furthermore, that iUd (14) is merely a curtailed example of Ichaltd
(14), for it is clear that this iltd is a cognate with the h'lta (27), the initial /I'-sdund
of which, Mr Henshaw says, represents a rongh guttural utterance (represented
herein by the character x- In (27) of the comparative list h'lta, expresses both
"head" and "hair", thus completing the circuit and making «i(f, cognate with
khaltd, since it is plain that h'alta (xalta) of 2ia, hlta of 26, and h'l-ta of 27, the
initial sound iu each being, as shown above, a rough guttural are related to Iclialtd.
The term hu-eh'lmo (24) is a compound of hu-, ""head", and -ch'lmo, an evident cog-
nate with the element -giilma or -keUme {^^MlemU) noticed above, denoting "hair";
hence, the combination signifies "hair of the head". In like manner the H'taam or
San Tomaseno form (17) Wlemo may be explained. In this dialect ho {=xo) signifies
"head", and an original holemo {=xo-Um!l8), signifying "hair of the head", became
contracted to the form in question, namely, h'lemo. In the Santa Isabella record of
Mr Henshaw hiista signifies "hair", but hiista-kwariir is given for "head", while
UsMk-um-o is translated "skull"; the last expression should have been written
(h)iistii-kiimo. Under, the caption "robe of rabbit skins", h'kiolr is found, but under
"skin" in "Parts of the Body" of his schedule, 'nyakwdt (26) and n'kiver (25) are
found, both meaning "imy skin"; Corbnsier's Mohave record has himdt-makwil ren-

MCGEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

327*

deretl "akin of man", but meaning "skin of tlie body", liimdt signifying "body",
and malcwil, "skin". The Mesa Grande term for skin is given as limU, a vocable
which has already been discussed. So it must be that the foregoing husta-lcwanir
signifies "skin of the hair" or "skin of the head", if husta is also a synonym for
"head". The final -ur in the compound in question is due to the misapprehension
of the rolled or trilled r-sound with which the term for skin terminates. The element
-Mmo of the vocable (h)usiu-ln1,md, rendered " skull ", is also a factor in the Diegueno
terms for "head" in numbers (15) and (16) of the comparative list; so that it is
highly probable that these terms signify "skull" rather than "head". And, lastly,
it is equally probable that the expression (18) Tcumpaiya Mivdwd signifies "hair of
the whole head (skull) " rather than "head" only; for the initial liim- is presump-
tively the cognate of the forms -cumoli and -kilmo, denoting in the compounds already
noted "skull", while -paiya signifies "all", and kuwdwd "hair". There appears
to be a relationship between the terms for "head" and "hair" in (126) oomwheltlie,
"head", (3)amatvhaelia,nd.mowh'l, "hair", and (26) ma-wAZ, "head". The explanation
of the term hu-lehsta (15), denoting "hair", is probably to he found in its resolution
into hu {x^)> "head", and Ichsta for a form of hiiata, "hair", discussed above; the
term signifies, therefore, "hair of the head". In like manner hwoh'lta (24), rendered
"head" there, seems rather to mean "hair of the head", by its reduction to hu,
"head", and ch'lta, for a form of Ichalta (^;i;aMo), "hair".

The Serian variants of the term denoting "head", are respectively (A) aHelit, (B)
ih'Ut, and (C) ilVU. These forms certainly have no kinship with the Yumaa terms
discussed above; they have a totally alien aspect. The Serian terms for "hair" are
respectively (A) aHekt, (B) ina (" feather" rather than "hair"), (C) iU'it kopt'no, and
(D) obeke, and while the last has an aspect foreign to the other terms classed as
Serian, none of the vocables appear to ofi^er ground upon which to predicate relation-
ship between the Yuman and the Serian. For a further explanation of obeke turn to
the discussion of "tooth".

The comparative list of Serian and Yuman names for the " nose " reveals no evidence
of linguistic relationship between the two groups; but an inspection of the Yuman
lists for "head", "hair", and "nose", exhibits a close connection between a nnmber
of the names for "head", "nose", and "beak, bill".

12a,
13.
20.
21.

Eye
mitto
ito
hittov^a (pi. ?)

SERIAN

Face

To see

aiyen

lydn ikehom

hien (in hieukipkue)= okta ; ^'ookta
"cheeks"
iktoj (forikto;r') (pi. ?) lien

YUMAN

eddche (pi.) ed6ohe eyfluk

rhidho fhidho rhiss4mk (far), h^ynk (near)
Imeet'dho = " thy eye " tmeethoowny a=" thy face "lekwuo

£do

idosaca ilo

M50, hipotca (pi.) hifo

edotche-(5e (pi.) odotche, eeyu "^

medok="thy eye" meya

edh6 edo-cu^mcoba

yu yii

yft ho (and "head")

hisamk, i-iido '

halquack

samk = "I see it"

isampotc="I do not see"

o-ook

eyu

iyuo

6-0 ■

^ This signifies, "let ixs see " ; Dr Loew also writes, iyd-ok, "to sen you".

328*

Eye

22. yu
19.

11. yu, lih (Gilbert)
18. yuh
11. yuh' (Renahawe)

1. yu-u

10. yu-u
I. yupicha (pi.?)

11. ye-bakS
3. agu, Ihu

23. ayu

14. hiyiSu, i-ido
17. yeoo

15. yiou

16. eeyou
126. eeyu-suneyao

24.
III.
5. woyofes

25. hiiyu

26. iyiu

27. iyiu

Eigbt of the terms for "eye" in the Yuman word lists are ido, hidho, or their vari-
ants, in five Yuman dialects, Maricopa, Mohave, Hummockhave, Kutchan, and M'mat
(virtually in but three, for Hummockhave is but a subdialect of Mohave, and M'mat
of Kutchan), and the remaining twenty-one examples are from an entirely different
stem or base which is apparently connected with a verb "to see," one of the forms
of which is eyuvM (4), Myuh (7), and iyd-oTc (6) ; the form ido and its several variants
is seemingly connected with i\ido (6), "let us see", apparently an imperative form,
in a manner similar to the connection between yH (2), " eye", and its variants, and the
verb form ei/iimi; just cited.

It will be seen from the table that oMa and x'ookta (or x'l^^ta) are the Serian forms
of the verb "to see". The form iktoj or iJctox', "eyes", recorded by Sr Tenoohio, is
the nominal form of that verb, the finalj or x' Ijeing, as it would appear, the plural
ending. The -vxs final of M I^inart's record as distinguished from Professor McGee's
mitto and Mr Bartlett's ito and approximated in Sr Tenochio's iktox', is evidently plu-
ral in function. While the Serian material bearing on this question is, indeed, very
meager, it nevertheless seems proper to regard the apparent accordance between the
Serian term for "eye (eyes) " and the Yuman vocable, ido and its variants, of limited
prevalency, signifying "eye," as forfcuitona rather than genetic.

The comparative list of the Serian and the Yuman namea for the "face" shows no
relationship between the two groups of languages.

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

YUMAN — continued

Face

To see

uli

ethool, tialbflgft

ahdmi

etho61

p^ya

yuu

akh^muk

yupi

gir

yabi

amigi

iuaho

ouwerk

nehuha

san
iyib

yeoo

oom

alt'hwS

ewiouoh

eeoh

ohum

yeou

kewfi
gadey

idosh, ya;t;elemlsh

ashaamk

hiiyu

iyiu

iviu

Tongue

A. aps's

B. Ip'l

C. hipxl
D.

SBKIAN

Tootli,

teeth

at^'st

tahOtk'

Itast

itova

hitast

ittova;i;

itoba

Foot

12.

Toiigiie

II. abilg
repulch
'■\epailche

4. epaloh

10. ipal

11. ipa'l (Gilbert)
21. ipa'l

20. ip^U

8. ipala

2. pala

6. ipaylya
I. hapara
18. hipii'l

5. Mp^lsh.

9. hipiily

13. mepal
imeepahlya

■\hipala
IV. mabela

15. anapalch
24. anapalcli

14. anep^ilkh

16. anpatl

17. henapail
23. nehapal

3. inyapatoh
1. yup^u

11. yupal (Eenshawe)

A.EATIVE

LEXICOLOGY

329*

YUMAX

Tooth,

teeth

Foot

edo6clie

amea (Peabody)

12.

arecldohe

13.

mee

id(5

17.

mee

ido

11.

mi (Gilbert)

hidoo's

19.

hidh6 (hiW)

21.

ml'

meet'dho

10.

mie

13.

medok

18.

mih

20.

edh^w

11.

minh (Eenshawe)

11.

yS, (Gilbert)

mli

19.

24.

emil

21.

ya'

15.

emil-yepiyen

11.

yo (Renshawe)

em^sb

eme-culepe

18.

yob

23.

emepah

y<5o

12.

emetch-slip aslap-yab

10.

yoo

20.

eme-guzlapa-zl'^p

17.

yeow

16.

emmee

16.

eo"w (ow long)

ime

23.

eau

imi-coushu

14.

iyao

14.

i-mil

iyahui

bimS

15.

iy^ou

Mmfs

24.

iyaou

meemee

II.

foea

rnanyo
Inanii (White)

basta^

ma-nyakkoyan (of. ma-
nyak, "leg")

IV.

agannapa (cf. "leg"
"hand"

After a careful examination of the collated lists of names purporting to signify
"tongue" in the Serian and Yuman languages it will be seen that the relationship
conjectured to exist between the two groups is fortuitous or coincidental rather
than real. The guttural rough breathing x preceding the I sound in M Pinart's
record, and indicated by an apostrophe in Mr Bartlett's spelling and by an s in Pro-
fessor McGee's orthography, is clearly wanting in all the Yuman terms cited. Were
there linguistic relationship between the two groups of terms here compared it would
seem that this sound should find a place in one or another of the long list of Yuman
terms, notably divergent among themselves. It is possible, if not probable, that the
final I, la, or ra of the Yuman terms is not a part of the stem ; but this would not
affect the want of accordance noted above.

An analytic investigation of the comparative list of vocables purporting to signify
"tooth" in the Serian and the Yuman languages discloses no evidence of genetic
relationship between them. Those who classify the Serian speech as a dialect of the
Yuman cite the Yuman ido, hidho (the eh-doh of Lieutenant Bergland), signifying
"tooth", as one of the vocables indicating a genetic relationship between the two
groups of languages. The comparison is made between the ido, hidho, and eh-doh cited
above and the close variants of the Serian ata'st. An inspection of the comparative
list of names for ' ' tooth " shows that this particular Yuman form is confined to the
Mohave, Maricopa, and Kutchan dialects (for the M'mat, which also employs this
term, is nearly identical with the Kutchan), and that the remainder of the Yuman

330*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 71

list of dialects has, with a single exception, an entirely different word ; this exception
being the Cochimi, which independently has another. The Yuman group, then, has
three radically different words purporting to signify " tooth "-

The Serian vocable for ' ' tooth " is a compound term, being composed of elements
denoting "mouth" and "stone". In the Seri word-collection of Professor MoGee
o«^'«n signifies "mouth"; atta-mox, •'lower lip", possibly "down about the mouth":
attahlc, "saliva" ("w^ter of the mouth"); attaKkt, "the chin"; takopa, "upper lip";
att&ias, " beard" ; ata'st, "tooth " ; and a'st, "rook, stone ". Mr Bartlett, in his vocab-
ulary, recorded iten, "mouth"; ita-mocken, "heard"; and as<, "stone". M Pinart,
in his Seri word list, wrote Mien, "mouth " ; hita-moklcen, " beard " ; and hast, " stone".
Lastly, Sr Tenoohio wrote iten, "mouth", and ahste, "stone", in ahsteka "large,
high stone, rook". Sr Teuochio also recorded obeke, "hair, down (pelo)". One of
the peculiarities of the sounds represented by the letters m and h is that in many
instances they grade one into the other. There is here, seemingly, a case in point.
The mox of Professor McGee, the moeken of Mr Bartlett, the mokhen of M. Pinart,
and the obeke of Sr Tenochio appear to be cognates. Substituting m for the 6 in
obeke, omeke results, which is approximately the mox, i>iocken, mofcfcen cited above.
Hence, liita-mokken audits congeners, it seems, signify "down of the mouth". In
attahk, "saliva", the element combining with attS (for it is plain that the final -n
is dropped in compounding) is 'ahk or 'akli, "water", so that this compound signi-
fies, literally, "water of the month". These analyses show that att&nn, iteiij and
liiten, dropping the final M-sound, unite with other elements in the form attS, ite, and
Mte, respectively. Now, these, in combination with a'ht or ast, "stone", become,
respectively, atta'st, itast, and hitast, the forms of the word for "tooth" recorded by
Professor MoGee, Mr Bartlett, and M Pinart, in the order given. The Seri name for
"tooth" signifies, then, literally "stone of the mouth" or "stones of the mouth".
This analysis demonstrates the lack of relationship between the Serian and Yuman
names for too^h.

The comparative schedules of names for "foot" in the Serian and the Yuman lan-
guages show no accordances of a phonetic character tending to show any genetic
relationship between the two groups compared.

Arm

A. mi'noul't'

B. inoyl

C. innol;f'

D. inls

Band

SKRIAN

Finger(s)

{tinol'k I

tinluhss' [a. unut-

unia'hss' J

B. inosiskersk B. inosshack

C. intlash C. inol'tis

D. D. .

Thumb

A. ilnultekok

Fingernail(s)
A. unosk

B. B. infiskl

C. inol'veko;f C. inoskl;['

D. D.

26. sote (White) 10. sal
1. t'h6tii 11. sal

10. thutii 21. sSl

11. thutiya(Gil- 18. sal

bert) 22. sfle

18. thudi 1. siille

13. mevee 23. esal

4. mibiisch 24. esalch

{meebeenya 12. eesdlche
(Mowry) 7. eesarlya
hibl (Gibbs) (Mowry)

YUMAN

3. ainchaho
(Heintzel-
man)

21. sals<51awh(5=
"fingernail"
23. salchepa

J'saitiql

Isaltida
10. saltidya
15. selchkasow

1. sal-kovat^a
10. sal-guvetee

fsSil-qovut^h
'Isal-guviteye

18. sal-kubgt^
21. sal-ktibit^
.9. hisalye-kfl-

htU

19. shSl-gubd^
23. sal-kootai

2. 8hal-k<5ta

6. salgolyoho
23. salhow

21. s^l sal6eh6

7. saltilyoho

(Gibbs)
9. hisalyekel-
yghcl

8. isaloulyiho
16. asshatlkay-

show ( o as
in bough)

MCQEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

331^

Arm

Sand

vuMAN — continued
Finger{s)

Thumb

Finge]-vail(s)

9. hivipuk
2a. vuyeboba

21. 8^1 9. hisalkothaf-

11. (sSl)hSnova Spa

= "right 14. isalgh
hand"(Een- 8. isalsicon

12.

15. selohpaycSn 12. esalohe serap 13. shal-kserap
7. hisaia(Gibb8)24. esalchqualy- 5. hishSltye-

umas watSsh

8. isalcusirape 20. ishallchevetS 7. meesarlquil-

9. hisalkothar- 1. ginyakynqui yoho
Spa 25. hasuth-kap- (Mowry)

17. sliah(h=;i;) 17. shah atai 15. selohkawaoh

19. shSl 3. shawas (Pea- 26. sakl-pltai
2. shala body)

5. shalkeserSps 4. eshaki-sharS-
4. eshalish bish

20. eshallchag- 19. shdl
hpey^n ,5. shalkeserSps

13. meshal shfendish

16. asshatl 13. shalkeserap
25. b'asatlkwia- 2. 8halagaite=^

yel "thumb"

6. hathbink 20. eshallque-
I. ginyak sharSp

II. nagannS 16. asshatlscarap

III. naganna 25. hasuthkwaii-

IV. nagannS mut
meesarlqui-

thahrapa
7.1 (Mowry)
sequaharapa
. (Gibbs)
1. ginyakyuqui
II. ignimbal

III. ignimbal

IV. ioimbal
14. enepul

Prominent among the data set forth to establish an alleged genetic linguistic rela-
tionship between the Serian and the Yuman tongues has been the word, "hand" as
represented in the languages in question.

A discriminating examination, however, of the accompanying comparative sched-
ules, comprising the words "arm, hand, finger, thumb, and fingernail," fails to
reveal any evidence that any genetic relationship exists between the languages here
subjected to comparison.

It has been suggested that ,the relationship is established through the Yuman sal
(shala, isalgh =^isalx), "hand", etc., and the Serian name for "wing" as recorded by
M. Pinart, namely, isselka; but Mr. Bartlett wrote this word iaeka without the I, so
this sound may or may not be genetic. But it has not been shown that isselka or
iseka ever signified " hand, arm, finger, thumb, fingernail", to a Seri, or that it is a
component element in any one of these five terms in the Serian tongue ; and so it is
apparently futile, in the absence of historical evidence, to attempt to employ this
term iseJca or isselka, "wing", as an assumed cognate of the Yuman sal, to establish
linguistic relationship between the languages.

shawe)
26. satl'

15. selch

24. esalch
^ jeeseth'l
"(fesee'l

23. esllmok

6. isSIya

8, isale
14. isalgh
17. shah (h=

19. shSl

20. eshall
5. ishalf sh

16. asshatl

25. h'asath'

I. ginyakpak
II. guenebf

fshawarra
3.j (Peabody)
larowhur

12. eesalche calla
hotche

13. meshalkleho

14. selkeshau

18. s61gh6

19. shelahd

20. shallglojo

1. siluw'or

2. shalahud
25. silyawh6
17. shahnepool

10. setehda

11. sttahwdfl
5. keshliwo^^sh

3. elcawho'p
(Peabody)

4. eshekiohodsh
24. esalohqualyu-

how
I. ginyakka
II. geueka

332*

THE SERI INDIANS

[ETH. AHN. 17

COMPARATIVE LIST OF SBRIAN FINGER-NAMBS

MoGee

uniilt6kok

ttnu'istess

unttltemu'ka'p

iinulte^pa

unulsch^lk

rmi'nottl't

\ininoiSl'd

finuhpkiht

fiinol'k

\iinlu'hs8',uiiia'l

iiiiosk'

Pinart

Bartlett

inol'veko;f

inol'tis

inol'l'emakkap

inol'tip

inol'shak

innol;i;'

i-noyl

inoliavap';i;'a

iutlash

i-nos-is-kersk

i-nOB-shack

inol'tis

i-nos-shaok - itova

. "toes"

inol'l'apa

istlik

inoski;!;'

i-n6sk'l

Thumb
Forefinger
Middle finger
Ming finger
Little finger

Arm

Wrist

Hand

Fingers

Bight hand
Left hand
Finger nails

It -would seem that the term given by M Pinart for "fingers" is not accurate,
since he has previously recorded it for "forefinger", in which he is confirmed by
Professor McGee. It seems probable that the literal signification of the term for
"little finger" is "son (or offspring) of the hand.'' Professor MoGee writes i-aahlc
for "son" as said by the father, and M Pinart writes isoMJc for the same idea.

Featheris)

Bird

B. is^ka

B. hrekina, = "bird
feather"

B. schatk; (schek-)'

C. isselka

C. inna

C. shek; (shiik-)

YUMAN

2. sha

4. shabflsh

2. tishS

13. eeshalk'sabillus

5. sbawilsh

17o. taoha (San Tomas)

7. ibilya (Gibbs)

7. seebeelya (Mowry)

19. itisha; tyesha

eebeelya (Mowry)

siviya (Gibbs)

22. tesya

9. hivilye

6. sivilya

21. tcls^

11. wS'ia

9. sivilya

I. icha

18. w^lle

8. sewailye

14. asha

23. oowaloo

17. shawalh

15. asa

4. melahotch

12. sahwith'l

18. isii = "eagle"

20. -millajo, (etsiyerre-)'

13. sabil; (sawillch^)

j^j fis8a,= " raven"
■lttsa="eagle"(Gilbert)

21. wirawldft

10. seguala

24. wirrawir

19. w^la

13a. shuh

'Mr Bartlett wrote ficAefc-a^cA, "bird's egg", and ahano-hraik, "a duck", literally, " water bird",
thus showing that Arefc in the term "feather" aignilies "bird". M Pinart wrote sAuft-immen, "bird's
nest", and ipx'\ " egg "- In both, the epellinga here differ somewhat from the terms in the list. In
the term for " duck " and " feather ", Mr Bartlett substitutes hr for the sch in his spelling of the name
for a " bird ".

2 In 20 eteiyerre signifies " bird *'

3 From Bartlett's Kutchan or Xuma Vocabulary, MS.

MCGEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

333*

YUMAN — continued

Wmgis)

Feather(s)

Bird

17.

wurawir; (whlrrawhi-

23. tewalooeme

6. atsiy^ra

uh>)

15. hewirwi'rr

J oheeyura
lachi&a (Gibbs)

16.

erwirry

24. wirrawir

15.

-awirr (hewiohitt-)

21. apa-quirrli = "tail

9. achiygra = "smqll

eyerk

feather "

birds"

ichqnan

jg Jwdlle

'lmtls^ma=i "quills"

17i. cheeyara

II.

goum6

20. etsiyerre

26.

wiirrawurra

20. -gemist (etsiyerre-)

5. tesey^rekopai

2. mata

23. kewalo

I. ichquan

4. e-y6'rk

II. nhamba

8. noosquivira

16. sohmay sharwattSl =

10. kipay

26. limith

II. kabto
13*. aherm^
16. sohquiab (i in like)
24. sepa

The comparative list of names for " wing" in the Serian and the Yumau languages
exhibits no satisfactory evidence of a genetic relationship between the collated
vocables ; in like manner there is no phonetic accordance whatever between the terms
denoting "feather" in the two groups of words. It seems evident, however, that
several of the Yuman words for "wing" and " feather " are phonetically mimetic
onomatopes ; compare whirrawhiuh (17) from Mr Parker's San Tomas Mission Vocabu-
lary, which is evidently an imitative word for the sound made by the wings of a
bird (for example, of the California quail) in rapid motion.

In the collated schedule of names for "bird" there is lacking any phonetic accord-
ances indicative of linguistic relationship between the languages compared.

Bone

A. mittag (like German

B. hrehitSk

C. ittak
D.

'mittag")

Leg

A. atta» attaqklem = " thigh '

B. itahom

Q lhita;fom = "thigh"

' lhippe;t:l =: "leg"
D.

15. ak

24. ak
24a. ^k

25. ak
26a. ak

I. hak
23. hak
27. hak
17; ok
266. n'yak
18. chiya'ka
21. tci^ka

4. esch^ques

2. uata (Loew)

impadi (White)
1. mdpada
11. mnpata (Eenshawe)

19. mp^da

6. methilya

rmethilya (Gibbs) = "thigh"
7.i meemay meethilya ( f ) = " upper

I leg"
10. methil

20. em6
23. eme

21. emmf

1 Trom Parker's San Tomas Mission Vocabulary, MS. 1876.

2 This was rendered, " A. white feather worn in the scalp"; in Parker's San Tomas Tecovd tischa-
laiemise is given for " feather ", but it is literally, '* bird's hair ".

334*

THE SEEI INDIANS

[ETH, ANN. 17

YUMAN — continued

Bone

7. n'eahsfixk (Mowry)

5. shaaks
13. yoosak

8. inyesake
20. ndohash^cq'

10. tiS.ga
19. ti^ga

6. u^niga
3. namsail
2. ku^vata

, 7. esal-hiwa (Gibbs)

11. acheao (Spanish?)
16. micashsho

Leg

17. mee

13. memae
12. meesith'l

15. emilyo

4. emistilish
3. imyliwhy

16. ewhitl

14. iuilgh
24. enyi-wilch

18. thimuwiila

5. eskarowlsh

8. enesaquiwere

9. himetoa-Sma = " upper legs"
11. siminoho CGilbert)

I. ma-nyak
II. gelelopi
IV. agannapaho (cf. "foot")

An examination of the several names for "bone" in the two groups of terms from
the Seri and the Yuman tongues in the comparative list above reveals no trust-
worthy evidence of linguistic relationship between the two groups.

The same want of agreement between the two groups of terms purporting to
denote "leg" in the Serian and the Yuman languages is manifest in the foregoing
comparativej list.

SERI AX

Stood Bed

A. ^-it

A. ka-ailqt

B. a,v't

B. ke-vilch

C. avat

C. keve;);'!

D. kebls

YUMAN

9. ahw^tam

22. guate

16. ahwhat

9. awhat

21. awhiit

16. h'what

12. awhiit (Comoyei)

21. awhatek

25. a-whiit

12. achawhut

26. a-what

25. whut

14. akhoat

26. whut

6. neghoata

14. khoat

10. tigval

6. agh6athum

23. t-quat

10. kokhoat

15. h'wat

23. oo-^ual

13. hwat {h = x)

15. h'wat

17. hwat

13. hwat

18. hwat

17. hwat

19. hwat

18. ohfihwata

11. hwa'tiga

19. ahuati

2a. htiata >

27. Swhfit

3. inuwhal

2a. awati

8, nichwarte

8. awhat

7. n'yawhart ( Mowry)

7. itch ahhoata (Mowry)

20. niejuit(j=x')

20. oulcavojuit

MCQEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

335*

Blood
7. yaliwata (Gibbs)
26. kiialayu

4. ehivetch

5. hi,-|;wit8li
I. hnat

IV. jueta
II. jued

YUMAN — continued

Med
1. echahuilta (Gibbs)
26. kalyo

4. hivet

5. ;t;wittem; gwittem
I. macbchnang {^jaa,xx^^^s)

II. mocao
IV. moku

At first glance there seems to be some degree of relationship between the groups
of terms signifying "blood" and "red" in the Serian and the Yuman tongues. But a
discriminating examination, of the words of the two collated lists seems to lead to the
contrary conclusion.

It may be. well to note that the difference between the Serian vocables denoting
'.'blood" and those signifying "red" is that the latter have a prefixed M-orfce-
sound, in this resembling most other attributive terms in the language. This kd
or fc^is probably a pronominative element. The Seri forms of the name for "blood,"
however, have no initial guttural prefix, and, owing to the lack of historical evi-
dence, it is not possible to declare that the Seri word, as compared with the Yuman
terms, has lost an initial guttural aspirate, which is apparently genetic in the
Yuman words, as it is present in 27 of the 28 variants of the Diegueno (14) klioat
and Mohave (9) aJiwat cited in the list. This is emphasized by the fact that the
guttural aspirate remains unchanged whether the term denotes "blood" or, meta-
phorically, "red". The Yuman -word apparently has no distinctively adjective or
attributive foriu. This is evidently in direct contrast with the Seri word, in which
the attributive form is initially and terminally different from the form of the word
employed as the name for"blood". These considerations strongly militate against
the assumed linguistic relationship between the Serian terms denoting, concretely,
"blood", and, metaphorically, "red", on the one hand, and the Yuman vocables of
like signification on the other.

Yellow (^brown)
mdssoli' kdil'iiii

komassolt (brown)
k'm&ol
kmasBol;);'

Green

Black

Blue

k6polt

k6ilqi"

D. kmozol

1. simarai

11. yembil

2. kiiase

4. aques

5. kwissem

6. agoathum.

_ fokwarthi (Mowry)
"lakw^tha (Gibbs)

8. akwahum

9. akwStha
10. agoathega

12. aquesque

kovilch

kopolcht

villch-kopolch

kovul;t;'; ;(panains

kopo;t'l (dark)

kovul;i:'

kobslh

jikopohl

(dark

ness) (j =

=X)

TUMAN

manachui

ichchara

changmangchi

mosoo

akal

ilvi

nya

aveshttve

hashamelavl'k

milk

habashii'ck

verrevfers

nyllk

;);awe8huk

havesug

vanilgh

havasug

havasook

whenyaeelkh.

havasook

amatk

hwainyelk

havasdke

timah6chi

naailk

avisuk

habas6

hwanyily

habas6

ny^gh

ashuuga

atsowoo surohe

quimele; n'yeelk

hawoo surche

336*

Fellotv (^broton)

THE

SERI

INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

YUMAN — continued

Oreen

Black

Blve

hbsoo

nyil

hbsoo

kaposhu

nilgh

kaposhu

h'pashu

qu'n'ylch

h'pashu

hpshoo

nyil

h'pashoo

quass

netl

hupshu

habestiwi

nya'chi; nya

habesiiwi

ku^thi

inia'

havBshuvi

jabashric

fliellgue

m'mai; m'mai cojo-
shuniS

actuas

haplli

habishu

gawesuwe

ny^tie

gavestiwe

emelsoo

nyeg

emelsoo

ahapeshu

qu'niloli

ahapeshu

13. quas

14. akhoas

15. quas

17. quos

16. quass

18. akwatha

19. ku^thi

20. aocu^sque

21. aqu^sstlk

22. akwiitha

23. koosai
24.

These comparative schedules of color-names denoting " yellow or brown ", "green",
"black, darkness", and "blue", collated from the Serian and the Yuman languages,
exhibit no phonetic accordances which would be indicative of linguistic kinship
between the two groups of languages compared.

It may be of some interest to remark here that the only dialect among the large
number compared above that employs the term "sky" for blue is the M'mat (20);
in this dialect m'mtfi signifies "sky", while m'mdi oi m'mai-cojoshunid (literally, "sky
color") denotes "blue".

SERIAN

White

Old

Towng

k(5'pol

kma'ko'k (man)
kilnkai'e (woman)

sepia' (man)

k6pcht

ikom^kolch

slip

C.
D.

koho;t;p

fkmakoj (man)
Ikonkabre (woman)

YUMAN

sip; p8ip="boy

tipyche

(tipy;t:'e)

oosing

wanju

II.

caM

acusd

IV. gala

2. n'shava

4. hema£il

5. ;i;emSlye

6. nimesam
jn'ymahsava (Mowry)

■t.n'yamas^ba (Gibbs)
8. yimeusavi

10. nimesav

11.

velh6 (Laymon)

kuradcks
fkureSks (man)
\akols (woman)

kvoraaga
j-kwirirark (Mowry)

[kwarra^k (Gibbsj

quarSki

{kwadaa'k (man)
kwakuy^ (woman)
atatay iitca= ' ' ancestors "
pat^iga

Ipagatafya (Gilbert) =
"young man"
kamfldflma (G il b e r t) =
"young woman"

fwhanu^" child, young one"
■jwakna, misprint for wdhna
I (Laymon)

ba (Laymon)

homarsh

me;j;ai8

ipa

l^mess-ser-haik (Mowry)
\messerhaik (Gibbs)

issintaie=" one "

mahfiia (man)

hemiSiga

Ihamg' (Gilbert) = " young
man, boy"
miimsT (6ilbert)=" young
woman, girl"

MCGEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

337*

YUMAN —continued

White

Old

Toung

12. hamarlk

13. hrnal

koorchak

amahai

14. nomosb^b

um^u

itmam

15. yem'slip

quirruck

ikutkuspi'rr

16. uemschap

qnrruk

quomiek

17. eemshap

toorak

quel

18. nyumSsdbi

belh^i (man;
.kftmfthwi'dflmftr

(woman)

IH. nimesiSva

20. jamallgue

curaiicca (man)

iepao

21. iinlo^pa

fpelh6 (man)
IpakI (woman)

pahurmu'rrS

hatcg'u (woman)

22. nyemes^we

23. umesap

pahtai .

pakookeechap

24. niSm'shap

querak

quenacui (woman )
hequiil (man)
hatoi'n (woman)

24a. nir-mishSh

kordk

The group of Serian names for the color " white" have no phonetic accordances
with the collated Yuman terms of like meaning.

Of the compared groups of Serian and Yuman names for "old" and "young" it
may be well to remark that in both some of the terms recorded mean simply " man ",
"woman", without regard to age, or "large, great man" (Seri A, B, D, and Yuman
6, 9, 10, 21, 23, 24. In number 21 ^afci signifies simply "woman", regardless of age.
Yuman number 8 signifies "one", not "young"). This cursory comment shows
how untrustworthy much of this material is. It is evident that there is here no
proof of genetic linguistic relationship between the Seri and the Yuman languages.

SERIAN

Great, large

Small

Good

Bad, ill

-gehkpa

B. kakolch

kipk^ha

ktpi

homlip; miph'la

C. kakkoA:'

^iv'xxa:;

kissil;t'

;t:eppe

;f'omipla (kmipla,
"bitter")

D. kakoj

YUMAN

I. chai, (^;i;'ai) achtawan(=ax^'-

tawan), "young"

II. c^okoo o^nil

IV. kii (Laymon)
J vete (Laymon) ;

gatye

. bite

otia n'yokek

wetaym nokik

vataim it^uk

rveltakik (Mow-

ry) fanchoik

meltaim (Gibbs) kit^^t
lhomm6k=="taH"
17 ETH 22

taip

ah^mi

fami

Uahi?e}(L''y'"°^)

fkhane

lahrtnnl

ho^tk'

;totk

akhotk

{ahhoteka
ahot'k

taipena

aminlli (=amiayi)

fambinyi

Imay (Laymon)

kalyeve

nyoymik

nyomik

alaik

{munnaik
elhotmnk: elMik

338*

THE

SERI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

YUMAN — eontinued

Great, large

Small

Good

Bad, ill

8. h'watai

eohitawa

epaclie-lioti =

■ pipach -ilbotim=:

"good men"

"bad men"

9. velt^ia ; ohumik

hitohaiiwa

a,h6t

alai

= "tall"

10. Tatega

ketiga

akh^nega

bianomaga

12. oteique

onoo oque

ahotekah; ahotk

baloolk

13. btek

qunnuk

hanna

enoimi

14. igu

iltik

kbau

ikritsikhlitcb

15. aq[uaokt^iye

el mS,am

h'hun

w'blitoh

17. quotai

leepist

moohoi

oorap

16. attih

el marm

k'hun

witlitoh

18. taya;ta;li6mf

kS'chi

bfei, bdnikftm

kalepi

19. t^yake; vet^

kitie

b^ne

;t'S16'pg

20. bett^io

n'noo

ajdtk

I'Uia

22. wets

k6tye

ban(S

helcSpe ^

23. etai

moo tit

mgai

boogloi

24. eolly

halyemuck

quaban

qual-bltoh

In the comparison of the adjectives " great, large" tbere is a single apparent accord-
ance between tbe two groups, and tbat is between the Cochimi erfoftoo and the several
Serian terms. The Laymon form indicates that the stem is ka or cd; but an analysis
of the Serian words shows that kolch, Tcox' or Tcoj (for kox') is their base, the initial
Tea being merely a pronominative, as may be seen from an inspection of the compared
lists of attributives or adjective elements in the Seri groups, including the color-
names. Now, Mr Bartlett writes in the same list with cdoTcoo, ealka, "a lake" ^
"water, large", accenting the cd, "great, large" ; and his "small" is od-nil= "great
not".

Comparing Dr Gabb's ;i;ai, "great, large", and ka or cd, on the one hand, with the
Kiliwee kootai and. kute in sal-kootai aiad. pah-ky,te, "thumb" or "large finger", and
"chief" or "large, great man", and with the Kiliwee etai, "great, large" on the
other, it becomes evident that cd is a curtailed form of kootai (kute), as etai is. The
edokoo of Mr Bartlett evidently signifies something more than "large, great"; it
may possibly mean "large house" — i. e., cduaka, or "large earth, ground" — i. e.,
cdakug, or it may be a cognate of Gabb's exkaikang, "high mountain". But never-
theless its derivation has been demonstrated so as to show that it has nothing iu
common with Serian terms.

There is likewise no phonetic relationship between the Serian and the Yuman
words denoting "small", and this is also true of those signifying "good", "bad",
and "ill". These four comparative lists then show no genetic relationship.

Water

A. ak', hak'

B. ache (=:a;i;'0

C. a,x' (ax')
X). ahj (ah;);')

Die, dead
-amukuk
kochhe

(■iko;i;;fe="die"
Uiia;i;;i:'e = " dead "

Wood, tree "

ahkS-uhk3.= "firewood "

f ak^hoke ^ ' ' wood "

\eaomtkite

(■aka;f;f 'iikaa := " wood "

\ehe="a stick, palo"
ehe="arbol"

fka;i;'- (in kaohpara,
I.j "sea") ~ epfe

Uasi; desi^"to drink"
II. oal ybita

IV. kahal; kalal(?) (Laymon) ibi; yibi

rwache := "tree"
lapnt="wood"

alleged = " wood"

MOQEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

339*

YUMAN — DOBtinued

Die, dead

Wood, tree

epfga

nevaye; bi =

="dead"

i-i=:"tree, wood"
filiu = "tree"
jinalch=±" shrub"
liya=" wood"

eptiik(ip£iik:

= "alive") (•emabatdoh = " tree "

\eeSche = " wood "

eptiik

rtef8h="tree"
\if8h="wood"

ipnik

ai="tree"

fhippooik=:

"dead"

f ahah= " Cottonwood"
lahee; a-i= " wood" (Gibbs)

LhippfiikCGibbs)

ichichiwoche= " tree "

a-£ = "wood"

hiptiik

ahaa="tree; ai = "wood"

aplge

i£e = "tree"

haigopiga (Gilbert)

^ee8h="tree"

e-ee; e-eetch^"wood"

puik

eekwsen; ee=:"wood"

meley

akhakunau; il="wood"

misp^

ilye; sin'yauquatM="tree"

mispah

e-ee; e-ee="wood"

m's'pa

oochoh; ee="wood, pine"

pih

iih

bihi; bi; pi

ivi; i-i^"wood"

opiiic

ei^"wood" and "tree"

ipapf

ii, akiai; liruba=:"wood"

hepi

paspi

haipak

mesapit

ily="tree"

Water

1. ah^, ah^a

2. aha

3. niluwhet; hahaw'l

4. hdiche

5. x^

6. akha
rah^ ,

''■ jcikhha (Gibbs)

8. ah^

9. aha

10. ah^a

11. ha

12. ab^

13. ha(=;t:a)

14. akha

15. h'ha

16. ahah

17. ha (=;i:a)

18. ahd, ha

19. Sha,, hS,

20. j^ (/a)

21. ahsi

22. aha

23. aha (=a^a)

24. ah'hii

All the Serian words denoting " water" are monosyllabic and terminate with the
fc-souud or aspirated guttural Xi followed by the breath instant (to which the final
e of Mr Bartlett's orthography is equivalent). On the other hand, the vocables of
the Yuman group of dialects invariably end in a vowel or a double vowel, and, in
24 out of 31 given forms, they are dissyllabic, several being trisyllabic. The Lay-
men form of the term is evidently the least affected by use, and jointly with the
words numbered 5, 6, 7 (Gibbs), 13, 14, 17, and 23, shows the genetic character of the
terminal vowel in the given words. These considerations render it probable that
the apparently radical resemblance of the collated words is fortuitous and not at all
genetic.

In the Serian list of names for "wood" two different words are given, and a third
occurs meaning "tree", perhaps "shrub". This third word, ehe, is very probably
an exotic in the list, and is seemingly of Yuman origin, through its substitution by
a Yuman-speaking interpreter for the proper Seri word. The correct term is prob-
ably contained in the other word given, ahkduhM, "firewood" (McGee); a-kd-hoke,
"wood" (Bartlett); akaxx'^^""', "wood", Spanish "lena" (Pinart). The base of
the word is evidently ahka, a-kt}, or aka, signifying "wood", while uhka, hake, or
Xx'^1<^^< is the attributive, meaning "dead" (compare ikoxxe, "to die", x^i^XX'e,
"dead", kochhe, "dead"). Hence, the compound signifies "dead wood" or "dead
timber", and the correct Seri word for "wood" is very probably oAfco, or aka. In

340*

THE SEEI INDIANiS

[BTH. ANN. 17

giving the names of tlie time periods M Pinart records an expression that confirms
the foregoing analysis. The word in question koneliexkue ishshax', which signifies
the month in which "se seca el pasto" — i. e., the month "the grass dries, becomes
sere'' Now, the element, hexkH^ is evidently identical with xx''''-^^^ above, and
this rendering should be " the month the grass dies ". Thus it would seem that the
term e/ie. not being a native Seri word, does not serve to establish relationship with
the Yuman.

The compared list of the Serian and the Yuman vocables purporting to denote
"die, dead", show no tokens of Relationship.

Shy {the heavens)

Ia-me m-ma
a-mem-ma kwu-i'k-pok
a-mgm-ma kiim-un-kwet-na = "hori- ^kuthla = "fog'
zon •" [

B. a-ml-me

Main (cloud)
kh(5pka= "rain" ; okS>'ta = " cloud "

C. amimme =" sky, heaven"

ip'kakaokuk = " heavy rain "( ?)

{hipka = " rain, shower " *
;i;oopka = " it is raining "
okala k;);uanom = " it is cloudy "

D. ammime

ripka = "rain"
lokaxla=" cloud"

YUMAN

21. akwarra

bdka

8. iqui

kowawakoohain

2. o'kve okenedia

kivo; kiva, kiwa

3. ama

haishunat

24. am^i

eqiii

13. amai

k'wus

9. amiiia

kubaUk ; kubauge = " it is raining "

12. ammai

muhhe6 ; ikwi = " cloud "

10. amayaSi

kivvoga

6. amaya

kovauk

1 . hdmasia ^ " heavens "

6k wi miidshlga

23. emmai

quicha

I. embai

15. mM

paou

16. mai (i in like)

pow

17. mai

qui

4. mMche

oauk

5. maish

14. may

ikvuy

11. maya (Renshawe)

kw'voga

20. mmai

obsiuc '

22. meya

11. miy^ (Gilbert)

^ jummayya
' 1 ummSia

rcoolowwa; hobauk (Yuma)
(kobauk

18. amiya'

ikwiw6 = "rain"; ikwl= "clouds"

19.

6kwi= "clouds": if wn = "i-ain "•

ek-
wariga="the sky is cloudy"

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

341^

While the seeming resemhlance between the Yuman terms for "sky, heaven",
and the Serian vocables of the same meaning is more apparent than real, yet the
kinship of the Seri with the Yuman group of languages has been conjectured upon
data of which this merely fortuitous similarity was made a factor.

The derivation of the characteristic Yuman term amai, the variants of which con-
stitute, with the exception of three vocables, the entire list here compared, is evi-
dently from the stem of the Mohave amait, "above, on top", amaik, "higher", the
Yavapai miavi, "up", and also the Yuma (Bennett's MS.), amiki, "over". In the
number-names, such as those for "eleven" and '* twelve", this vocable becomes
mailc and maga in Maricopa, in Bartlett's Coco-Maricopa, and in Cochimi, and maike
in Hummockhave, amike in Yuma (Bennett's MS.), umaiga and umai in M'mat, amaik
in Mohave (Gibbs), mae in Kutchan, amaikin Kutohan (Englehardt), emmia in Santa
Cataliua; in all the number-names in which these variants occur they have a single
meaning, namely, "above, over, on top, added to, plus". Thus it is evident that
the Yuman variants of amai, "sky, the heavens", are cognate with the auxiliaries
or flexions of number-names cited above. Hence, originally the Yuman concept of
the " sky " was " the place above, the higher place, or the place on top "-

The derivation of the Seri vocable amime or am^ma, "sky, the heavens", while
bearing only a fortuitous resemblance to the Yuman terms noted above, is not trace-
able from the meager material at present accessible. Strictly speaking, the extent
of the phonetic similarity between the Yuman and the Seri vocable is the possession
of an TO-sound in the first syllable, which is evidently the dominant one in the
Yuman terms. On the other hand, the Serian vocable has two syllables dominated
by the m-souud, and the foregoing explanation of the derivation of the Yuman voca-
ble, if correct, as it seems to be, does not supply any means for explaining this
duality of syllables dominated by an m-sound in the Serian term. For unlike the
Yuman dialects of the present the Seri tongue does not duplicate the stem of a word
or any part thereof for any purpose whatsoever (though in the past the Seri may or may
not have had the duplicative process, for a language can not only do what it is accus-
tomed to do, but may at all times acquire new habits). So it would seem that with-
out historical evidence to support it this comparison is invalid as an indication of
linguistic kinship between the vocables compared, and its evidence regarding the
conjectured relationship of the two groups of languages is negative.

Sun

A. sSShK

B. schra

C. shaa

D. rahj ; tahj

I. epang
II. ybo

III. ibo

IV. ibo; ibunga

(Laymon)

1. iny^a

2. uya

3. inngh

4. enn'yache

5. nyas

6. anya

Moon
esschah''
isah

ishsha;!:'

Fire

Earth

a'mil'ka

ummt; e'k = "dust"

amakinoch

am't

ashamt = "olay.

amak

adobe"

hamt="the earth"

amak

ampte

YUMAN

iiiaahra

emat

usi

akug

na- usi

amet; ammet

kaglimbfik

gamma; ganehma- usi

jen

halaa odo

h'lS; halla (White) hoo; weya (White) mata

hailiyugh eya; ahi muat

halyache ' n'yaki^m mSiehe

;(;iias; ;tal^sli ahaus miit

halyii aSua amata

342*

THE SEEI INDIANS

[ETH. ANN. 17

YUMAN — continued

Sun
„ funya
' ■ lunya (Gibba)

8. any a

9. anyfl

10. inyaS

11. nya (Gilbert)

12. m'yatche

13. huya; bnya?

14. inyS

15. n'ya

16. enyah

17. nya

18. nyii

19. nydvi; nyd
20.nyS

21. n'ya

22. enya

23. eBai

24. enn'yaobipap

Moon
fhuala
IhSlla (Gibbs)

halya

h^lya

bal^ a

hla (Gilbert)

huth'lya; huUyar

halla

kbilshi^

hulchy^

butl'yali

h'kla

hal^

'lawe; 'l&

jelia

Mlia

bal^

hala

belohhy^

Mre
faliowwa
laSuwa (Gibbs)

chiwaswe

a^nwa

tuga

otoga (Gilbert)

aSwo

^aa

a^ou

quu

matuanap

o61i

a^u

a^; it8M=" coals"

oli6

aau

a^ou

Marth
Jamata
lam-mS-ta (Gibbs)

£i-i

amat; tcidma

mat

omut

am^th (Bennett)

a-mS-ta

mat

mnt

mut

mot

mat; am^t; mdte

amat; mata

h'mSt

mat

omot
um^t

The comparative schedules of the Serian names for "sun" and "moon" exhibit no
phonetic evidence of genetic relationship with the collated lists of Yuman vocables
of like import.

Between the Serian names for "fire" and the Yuman terms of like import there is
no phonetic accordance indicative of glottologic kinship.

It has been supposed, and not without a measure of possibility, that a radical
relationship exists between the Serian and the Yuman words denoting " earth". The
supposition rests on the approximate phonetic accordance of two consonants occur-
ring in these terms, quite regardless of the vowel sounds that render them intelli-
gible. The four Seri authorities are in close accord in not hearing and recording a
vowel sound between the m and the following t. This final t is apparently explosive,
indicated by Mr Bartlett with a prefixed apostrophe and by Sr Teuochio with an e,
whose final position would make it faint. The initial h of the record of M Pinart is
very probably due to the Yuman-speaking interpreter. Now, in the 26 forms of the
Yuman word here collated the vowel intervening between the m and t of the Yuman
vocable is strong and characteristic, and in 11 instances it is accented. While the
Seri forms are monosyllables, 17 of the 28 Yuman examples are dissyllabic and 3
are trisyllables. The Cocopa muat indicates the persistency of the medial vowel.
These differences, admittedly but poorly indicated by the faulty alphabets employed
by the several'word collectors, are important and significant; were the several terms
here compared faithfully recorded as spoken, by means of a discriminative phonetic
alphabet, it seems probable that these literal accordances, in view of the marked
differences noted above, would disappear. So in the absence of historical evidence
of the genetic relationship of the Serian and the Yuman words denoting ' ' earth ", it
seems best to regard this literal accordance as fortuitous rather than real or genetic.

Dog

SERIAN

Coyote

B. achks

C. a;i;'8h
D.

vootth
boot

Wolf

hashok^vlch. = "red hasho"

;i;'ekko8

MCGEE]

COMPARATIVE LEXICOLOGY

343*

PIMAN

Dog

Coyote

Wolf

a. oox (Pima, White)

serr

b. yoosi (Nevome)

Tana

suhi

c. kok8(Pima)

pan

d. kocks (Opata)

guo

YUMAN

I. ethatta

etadwachetlbawaha

(etadwachetiba-wa

II. maea

1. uhSt

katha't

2. tsata

kethuda

TohS,

3. cowwaiok

4. hatch

hatakfiltis

5. ;tdt

;t:atelwis; ;):atelwl8h

;i;attekliltis

6. akhatohora

huksara

fhotchduk
Ihatohaka (Gibbs)

hooktharu

hukthara (Gibbs)

8. hachochoke

hookhare

9. hattoaka (pl.hattoak-

' hukp^ra

toa)

10. akhat

gesat

11. hot; ahat (Eenshawe)

kthat; oathft't (Eenshawe)

12. hoow^e

13. ahatohookaohook

ahateleeway

14. khat

15. h'hUt

hutoh'kfllk

16. hotohukchnk

hutohpah

17. ahot

ahotoopai

18. knth^'rt

kutha,'rt hSna

19. kath^ta

nimmlta (nimiwi)

20. jatsoosdc

jatela€

21. a'hat; ahiit

22. keh^r

23. itat

milti

latkil

24. h'hut

h'takulch

huwi. (Kutohan, Bart-

lett)

The comparative list of names for "dog" shows that the Seri term was very
probably adopted from the Piman group of tongues, and there is therefore no appa-
rent relation between the Serian and the Yuman terms.

The Serian name for " coyote " shows no kinship with the Yuman names for this
animal.

The Serian names for "wolf", x'^^^o^ and hasho-Mvlch (^"red hasho"), show no
apparent linguistic relationship to the Yuman names for this animal. It is possible
that the Serian terms have some affinity to the Piman terms for "dog" and "wolf".

Notwithstanding the unqualified conclusion of Herr J. C. E. Bnschmann as to the
separateness of the "Waiouri (Guaicuri), the late Dr Daniel G. Brinton, in positive
terms, though from adverse evidence deduced from precarious data, included this
and the Seri tongue in the Yuman stock of languages. Speaking of a comparative
list of words specially selected from the Cochimi, Waicuri, Seri, and Yuma, he
says: "The above vocabularies illustrate the extension of the Yuman stock to the
southward. The Cochimi and Waicuri are remote dialects, but of positive affin-
ities."' Yet of seven terms selected by him from the Waicuri to prove these

' The American Eaoe, p. 335.

344* THE SERI INDIANS [eth,ann.17

"positive affinities" not one has any phonetic accordance with the term with which
it is compared. This, it would seem, should have sufficed to eliminate the Waicuri
from the Yuman stock. Pending further research, this language should stand
independently.

Of the conjectured glottologic kinship of the Seri to the Yuman stock Dr Brinton
says : i "The relationship of the dialect to the Yuman stock is evident." Yet out of
twenty-one terms which he chose to exhibit the grounds of his faith only six (those
for "tongue", "eye", "head", "water", "man", and "teeth") show any definite
phonetic resemblance. This number, however, can certainly be reduced by careful
scrutiny. Thus, he cites the Laymon and Cochimi tamd as a cognate of the Seri
elcetam. The Laymon and Cochimi term, it must be remembered, does not occur iu
this form in a single other touguo admittedly Yuman. Now, before this vague
resemblance can establish relationship it must first be shown that the terms compared
have a common linguistic tradition and that a form of tamd is or has been an element
common to the other dialects of the Yuman group. But an analysis of the Cochimi
term shows no trustworthy ground for considering these terms related. So this
certainly reduces the number of conjectured accordancies to five.

Comparison is made by Dr Brinton between the Serian ata'st (itast, hitast), " tooth"
and "teeth" (coUeotively), and the vocable eMoh (Liemienant Bergland's)," tooth",
variants of which are common to only three of the twenty-odd Yuman dialects. He
made this comparison evidently under the impression that the first- part of the Seri
term ata'st (itaat, hitast) signifies "tooth". But such is not the fact. The first part
of this Seri vocable signifies "mouth" (as may be seen in the discussion of the com-
parative list of names for "tooth") and the latter part "stone"- The term ttasi,
"tooth", is, therefore, literally "stone of the mouth" This is certainly not the
signification of the Yuman terms, and so the comparison is invalid, and the number
of apparent accordances is reduced to four. By some oversight it seems Dr Brinton
omitted from this comparison the Cochimi hastad, "tooth"; but this collocation has
been made by others. Now, this term hastad belongs exclusively to the Cochimi
dialect, and before becoming a means of comparison would have to be shown to be a
vocable common to the body of Yuman terms having a common linguistic tradition,
which has not been done. Moreover, the phonetic obstacles barring a way to a
fruitful compariso. of this term with the Serian are q[uite insuperable — the assumed
loss of the first half of the Seri term, the acquirement by the Cochimi of the initial
h sound and of the final accented syllables -ad, or the converse process. This, it
seems safe to say, renders this comparison likewise invalid.

The Seri term inilash, "hand", has certainly no phonetic accordance with the
peculiar Yuman iarahl, which is from the Yuma or Kntchaa record of Lieutenant Eric
Bergland, nor, indeed, has it any accordance with any other Yuman term for hand.
The presence of the r sound in it supplies the peculiar feature of the term ; but it
may he used only to lengthen the following vowel (though this is only an assump-
tion). This form is peculiar because there is none like it in about thirty Yuma
Tocahularies, representing about twenty dialects, in the archives of the Bureau of
American Ethnology. A careful inspection of the comparative list of the Seri and
the Yuman names for "arm", "hand", "finger", "thumb", and "fingernail" will
demonstrate the utter futility of the comparison under consideration, for there is no
accordance between the Seri and the Yuman terms.

Elsewhere herein, in discussing the terms for " head" and " hair", " eye", "tongue",
and "water", it is shown that there is no apparent linguistic relationship between
the Serian terms on the one hand and the Yuman on the other, and those explana-
tions dissipate entirely the suspected accordances of Dr Brinton.

' Loc. cit.

■ ; !■, ■',[■(. Tic, v., ,;■., • -?.T'w;n

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